Hidden Secrets
by triquetraperson
Summary: Harry Potter should have gone to Hogwarts, right? But no, so instead he goes to Stonewall and as his 15th birthday passes, strange things start happening that cause Harry to question exactly what his relatives are hiding from him.
1. Letters

**A/N: Ok, well just so that no one gets confused, in this story, everything that happened in the first book until Harry gets the second letter to go to Hogwarts is the same. So he still lives with the Dursleys. Please read and review at the end. Thanks!**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters which you don't recognize. Also, most of the dialogue in this chapter belongs to J. K. Rowling as well. **

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Harry Potter was in the kitchen watching his Aunt Petunia dye the clothes that he was supposed to wear to his new school. At the moment, it was giving off an extremely rotten smell so when he first came into the kitchen and asked what the clothes were, his aunt had told him not to be stupid and that they were part of his new uniform. Harry lived with Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and his cousin Dudley because when he was a baby, his parents were killed in a car crash. The only thing that Harry remembered about the night they died was a flash of green light and what that had to do with a car crash, he had no idea. 

Harry was ten at the moment but he looked much younger than that. He was very thin due to the fact that his relatives refused tofeed him sometimes. He had jetblack hair that never stayed down and he had brilliant green eyes. He alsohad a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt.He supposedly got it from the car crash. 

A few moments later, Uncle Vernon and Dudley both came into the kitchen wrinkling their noses in disgust at the smell. Dudley sat down at the table and began banging his Smelting stick, which was a knobbly stick used for hitting each other while teachers weren't looking, on the table. Then as Uncle Vernon opened up his newspaper, there was a small click and a plop. "Get the mail Dudley ," said Vernon from behind his newspaper." 

"Make Harry get it." 

"Get the mail, Harry." 

"Make Dudley get it." 

"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley ." 

Harry dodged the stick and went to get the mail. As he walked back to the kitchen from the front door, he browsed through the letters. There was a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and…a letter for Harry. It said: 

Mr. H. potter  
The Cupboard under the Stairs  
4 Privet Drive  
Little Whinging  
Surrey 

No one had ever written to Harry before. He didn't have any friends, no other relatives, and didn't even go to the library for them to send rude letters asking for books back. There was no stamp on it either. Harry turned the letter over and saw purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H. 

"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" 

Harry quickly went back into the kitchen and gave Uncle Vernon the other two letters then he sat down in a chair and began to open his. As he was about to read the letter, Dudley shouted, "Dad! Dad, Harry's got something!" 

Vernon sharply snatched the letter out of Harry's hand. 

"That's mine!" said Harry trying to snatch it back. 

"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, glancing at the letter. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. It didn't stop there; within seconds, it was the grayish white of old porridge. "P-P-Petunia!" he gasped 

Petunia took the letter of Vernon 's hand and read the first line. She looked like she was about to faint. Petunia clutched her throat and made a choking sound. " Vernon ! Oh my goodness-- Vernon !" 

Dudley who also wanted to read the letter, tapped his father on the head with his Smelting stick which resulted in both him and Harry being kicked out of the kitchen. 

Harry never got to see the letter. The only thing he heard from his aunt and uncle was something about people spying on them or watching them. Later that evening, Uncle Vernon visited Harry for the first time in his little cupboard. 

"Where's my letter?" said Harry the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"

"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it." 

"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it." 

"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. Then giving a painful smile, he said, "Er- yes-, Harry—about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking…you're really getting a bit big for it…we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley 's second bedroom." 

"Why?" said Harry. 

"Don't ask question!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs now." 

Harry took all his stuff into the bedroom in one trip. As he looked around, he decided that he would rather still be in his cupboard with his letter than up here in his new room. 

The next morning when the post came, Uncle Vernon made Dudley get it. As Dudley banged his Smelting stick on the walls, he suddenly shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive—" 

Uncle Vernon leapt up from his seat with a strangled cry and wrestled Dudley to the ground to get the letter. This was a bit difficult since Harry had been following him and had jumped on his back. After a minute of confused fighting, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter in his hand. 

"Go to your cupboard—I mean your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. " Dudley —go—just go." 

As Harry left the hall to go upstairs he heard his aunt say, "What should we do now, Vernon ?" 

"Keep the letter, Petunia, but we'll write back." 

"But what if _they _come here and demand to take him?" 

"We'll send a letter back saying that he's not coming!" 

"What?" 

"You know, write the letter then send it back the way _they _send letters. Do you remember how it was done?" 

"Yes…yes, I think I do…a bird! Find a bird! There should be one around here, Vernon ." 

"Alright then. I'll find that ruddy bird. You write the letter, Petunia." 

"If you say so, dear," said his aunt. Then his uncle went outside to find a bird and his aunt went to write a letter. Harry slowly went back to his bedroom thinking. What would they want a bird for? He knew deep down that if he was ever going to find out anything then he would have to find out himself or wait for them to tell him. 

The next day, Harry eagerly awaited the post. When it came, he leapt out of his seat to see if there was any mail for him. He browsed through the mail hoping for anything that said Mr. H. Potter, but there was nothing…


	2. Stonewall

**Thank you so much to my first 2 reviewers, Noompjuh and Setnick! I'm glad you both like this story so far. Anyways, here is the second chapter.... I've already written the first four chapters so chapter 3 and 4 will be up this week also but after that, depending on when I write the next chapters, that's when they'll be up. Read and review at the end, thanks!**

**-triquetraperson**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters, which you don't recognize. **

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About a month later, Harry woke up to the shrill scream of his aunt telling him that it was time to go to school. Harry looked at the half broken clock on the wall and rubbed his eyes. It was 6:30 in the morning. He shrugged and got out of bed.

Harry crossed over to the small closet in his room and pulled out the gray uniform, which he was supposed to wear to school. It was a hideous thing to look at, but Harry supposed that everyone would most likely be wearing something similar to it so he slipped it on. The only problem was that, the clothes were once Dudley's so they were very loose on Harry.

A few minutes later, Harry went downstairs and sat at the table. Uncle Vernon was reading his newspaper and Dudley was still asleep. Aunt Petunia was making scrambled eggs, which Harry thought were for him. His Aunt brought the pan over to the table and dropped it on his uncle's plate. Then, without giving Harry a second glance, she dropped a rotten banana on his plate. "Eat up, boy," said Uncle Vernon from behind his newspaper. "I don't suppose that they'll serve you much more than that at Stonewall. I've heard people say that it's as strict as a military school."

Harry gulped and quickly ate his banana. After that, he ran upstairs, grabbed his backpack, which was formerly Dudley's, put a few pencils in it and went back downstairs. Uncle Vernon grabbed his cup of coffee, gave Petunia a kiss on the cheek and barked at Harry, "Let's go, boy!" Harry timidly followed his Uncle out to the car glad for once in his life that he wouldn't be going to the same school as Dudley.

It took about ten minutes to get there. In that short period of time, Vernon gave a nice long lecture. "Now, if I hear one word from the headmaster about your outrageous behavior then you will get no food from us for a month. I will not house a hooligan. If people are being mean to you, deal with it. I will not tolerate whining about such nonsense that is none of my concern. Are you listening to me, Harry?"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon."

"Good, good, now the last rule is, if you have any form that I must sign, then do not expect me to sign it without a full explanation on why I must sign the form, understand?"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," droned Harry in a monotone voice. In reality, Harry had not been listening to a word his uncle had been saying. He was thinking about Stonewall High. There would be many people there whom he didn't know. Maybe, it would be possible for him to finally have friends.

A few seconds later, Vernon pulled to a stop. "Boy, your school is the next street over." Then he pulled a few notes out of his pocket and said, "This money is only to be used to buy a ticket to come home by bus. I daresay that I'll have to give you more so you'll get it at the end of the month."

"But Uncle Vernon, this money is barely enough for two weeks!"

"That is not my problem, boy. Now go!" And Harry's uncle quickly drove away to avoid being spotted by anyone he knew.

Harry sighed at walked towards his school. As he entered the campus, he saw many people, much more than there were at his old school. He also noticed that many people were staring at him. Harry knew what it was like to be stared at but not the extent where over 200 people were staring at him. His ears turned a light shade of pink and he walked over to the nearest group of people he could see.

"Hello, I'm Harry Potter," he said to a boy with light brown hair and blue eyes.

"Hello, Harry Potter," the boy replied cheerfully.

"Hello, Harry Potter," said a girl who had dark brown hair and light brown, almost gold eyes.

"Hello, Harry Potter," said another girl with blond hair and black eyes. Almost immediately after she said hello, the three of them and Harry started laughing.

"Don't take that as an offense, Harry," said the boy. "We do that to everyone. But then again, they usually end up getting scared of us for some odd reason."

"Can't imagine why," said Harry, smiling at the three.

"I'm Eric Madison," said the boy.

"Anna Sutton," said the girl with dark brown hair.

"And I'm Sam," said the blond girl. "If you ever call me Samantha, you'll wish that there was a doctor nearby."

"Nice to meet you too," said Harry, raising an eyebrow. "Anyways, I was wondering if you guys could help me."

"What do need help with?" said Anna.

"Since I'm new here, I was told that I had to speak with the headmaster."

The three exchanged glances. Then Eric said, "Ok, we'll show you where the headmaster is, but you have to do something for us in return."

"Sure, that's fine," said Harry not knowing what he was getting into.

A few minutes later, Harry, Eric, Sam, and Anna were standing outside the headmaster's office. "Are you sure that I won't get caught?" asked Harry nervously, holding a jug of coffee.

"Don't worry so much, Harry," said Sam reassuringly.

"Yeah, he never expects newsies to do pranks on him," said Anna.

"Newsies?"

"New students."

"Oh, ok," said Harry then he walked into the headmaster's office.

"Do you think he'll do it, Eric?" asked Anna.

"Hope so. We need one more person, all our tricks are getting old besides, Harry seems like a nice fellow."

Harry walked into Headmaster Rumbag's office. He made sure that no one was watching him and poured the jug of coffee that Eric had given him into a container on the headmaster's desk, which contained lemonade. After emptying the jug into the container, he placed the jug on the headmaster's desk and waited for him to come.

After a few minutes, Headmaster Rumbag strode into the room. He was a short, plump man with a mustache that looked like he had used gel on it to make it stick out.

"So, you're the new student," he said, looking down at a file on his desk. "Harry Potter…no parents…lives with aunt and uncle…transferred from an all boys school…hmm….very interesting." He stared at Harry for a moment. "They teach you manners at that old school of yours?" he barked.

Harry jumped slightly then said, "Yes, sir."

"Good, then you should be no problem. Please wait here while I give you a copy of your class schedule." The Headmaster turned on his computer, pressed a button then for Harry's schedule to print. As he was waiting, he took a cup that was on his desk and filled it with what he thought was lemonade. He looked at the cup for a moment and said, "Ah, raspberry lemonade, how nice. I am very fond of raspberry lemonade." Headmaster Rumbag took a large sip of it and immediately spit it out. Unfortunately, he was facing Harry so the lemonade and coffee landed all over Harry. "My dear, boy, I am dreadfully sorry," he said. Then he took something from his pocket and said, "This, boy is a day pass. With this, you may have any meal of your choice from the senior cafeteria. Choose wisely because rarely do people ever get two even one." Then he took the schedule from the printer, ushered Harry out of the room and slammed the door.

Harry walked over to Sam, Eric, and Anna looking very confused.

Eric grinned at Harry then pointed at the pink paper in his hand. "I see it worked."

"Yeah, it did. Though, I don't enjoy smelling like coffee and lemonade."

"But it was worth it, wasn't it?" asked Sam.

"Of course it was," said Harry, beaming at the other three. "It was spectacular to see the look on his face when he spit it out. He went even purpler than my uncle ever does and that is very impressive."

"Glad to hear it, Harry," said Anna. Then she looked at her watch and said, "Bell's about to ring. Let's get you to class, shall we?"

Harry grinned and said, "Ok, let's go." Harry Potter went to class that day feeling better than he had his entire life. He was so happy that he didn't even mind it when Aunt Petunia shouted at him for getting his clothes dirty. He was certain that his life would never be the same.

_Same day after the Hogwarts sorting ceremony:_

"Albus, you wanted to speak to me?" asked a stern looking woman named Minerva McGonagall.

"Yes, my dear professor, I did," replied an old man with twinkling eyes and a long white beard.

"What is it?"

"I'm curious, shouldn't Harry Potter have been at the sorting ceremony this evening?"

Professor McGonagall sighed and said, "I've been meaning to tell you. The relatives we left the boy with wrote a letter back saying that he did not want to go to Hogwarts." Noticing the disappointed look on the old man's face, she said, "You know that we can't force anyone to come to Hogwarts."

"Yes, I am aware."

"Then what is it, Albus?"

"Have you ever thought that possibly, the letter was a hoax? You know how Lily was always saying that Petunia detested magic and wanted to be as normal as possible."

"That is correct, Albus, but Potter is already attending a non magic school where he has made very good friends with three youngsters much like himself. I don't think that it would be wise for us to tell him that he was born a wizard and tell him that he has to attend Hogwarts."

"You are without a doubt correct, but I fear that now, without Harry here, the worst is yet to come. Great prophesies have been made about him. Without him here to fulfill them, we can only hope that the world will turn out how it should."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing, my dear Professor. Would you care for a lemon drop?"


	3. Happy Birthday

**Ok, thank you to Stenick for reviewing. Even I find it interesting what could have happened to Harry if he had gone to Stonewall. Anyways, here's the next chapter so have fun reading everyone!**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters or things, which you don't recognize.**

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**After that first day at Stonewall, Harry Potter no longer felt lonely like he did in his previous school. Here, there was no Dudley to make fun of him or to spread rumors about what a strange person he was. It was just him and a bunch of other people who didn't really care that he had no parents and lived with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. So, for five years, Harry lived a normal life. He went out with his friends, did homework, got into trouble with his Aunt and Uncle, did pranks, and had the time of his life. Truth be told, he completely forgot about the two mysterious letters that had arrived for him the week before he turned eleven. 

_Week after Harry's fifteenth birthday:_

Harry Potter got off at the bus stop across from the Rose Garden Shopping Center. He was tall for his age at the height of about five foot nine. He had brilliant green eyes and black hair that refused to be combed flat. At school, he was very popular and he was respected by everyone. All the girls were constantly wishing that they were his girlfriend. Sadly to say, Harry wasn't looking for anyone at the moment.

Harry looked both ways then crossed the street. As soon as he walked into the shopping center, he scanned the area for his friends. Anna had called him the day before and told him to meet her, Eric, and Sam at the shopping center and Harry had conveniently forgotten to ask why. As he looked at the crowd that was moving in and out of the mall, he spotted Anna's gold eyes. Anna could easily conceal herself in a crowd but her eyes immediately gave her away since they were a rather bright gold color. Harry smiled and quickly walked towards her.

"Anna!" he shouted.

"Oh, hi Harry!" she shouted back. "How'd you find me?"

"Your eyes," he said.

"Figured as much…Anyways, let's go. Don't want to be late," Anna said pulling Harry along with her.

Harry let himself be pulled by her and asked, "Exactly what are we going to be late for?"

Anna turned around and smiled him. "You'll see, now walk faster! One would think that since you're the captain of the football (soccer) team, you would be a fast walker."

Harry snorted and walked faster. After a few minutes, he and Anna stopped in front of an unused Laundromat store. "A Laundromat. An unused one too. Wow, I love these places…" said Harry sarcastically.

"Stop being a prick," replied Anna, punching his shoulder. Then she dragged him with her inside.

Inside, it was pitch black. Anna pushed Harry inside and swiftly closed the door blocking all means of light.

"Erm, Anna? What are you doing?" asked Harry, getting strange thoughts in his head of what was going to happen.

Suddenly, the lights went on and, "SURPRISE!" Harry looked with awe at the scene in front of him. Eric, Sam, and Anna were standing next to a table with a cake on it that said 'Happy Birthday Harry'. The whole place was decorated with balloons and streamers and it did not look like a Laundromat at all.

"Wow, I don't know what to say. I've never actually had a birthday party before…"

"We know, mate, we know," said Eric, coming up to Harry. "That's why we did this for you. And that's not all, you have tons of presents too!"

Harry looked at where Eric was pointing and saw a huge stack of presents in the corner of the room. He silently walked over to them and said, "Who are these all from?"

"Well, Harry," said Sam, "each of us gave you one, like we do each year, then the rest are from random people around school wanted to give you something for your birthday."

"Why didn't you ever tell us that you had so many friends?" asked Eric jokingly. He and Harry burst out laughing. "Yeah, so anyways, it took me five trips to bring all of this stuff here."

"Hey, you didn't have to bring Harry here," said Anna. "That was the hardest part."

"How was that hard, Anna?" asked Sam. "All you needed to do was pick up the phone and say 'Harry, meet me at Rose Garden'."

"True, but ever time I called, his uncle, aunt, or Dudley always picked up the phone. I'm not going to ask them to tell Harry to come to Rose Garden."

"She's right, Sam," said Harry eating a piece of his birthday cake. "Hey, this thing's not that bad."

"Harry, you're supposed to wait for us to sing for you before you eat it," said Anna.

"And what do you mean that it's not that bad?" asked Sam. "Anna and I spent the whole of yesterday baking that darn thing for you."

"You two can cook?" asked Harry. He turned to Eric who had an eyebrow raised then said, "Eric, did you know they could cook?"

"I didn't think that they even knew how to use a kitchen," he replied. Sam walked up to him and hit him on his head. "Ow! What was that for?" he asked rubbing his head.

"For being an idiot."

"But that hurt…"

Five hours and a whole cake later, Harry, Eric, Sam, and Anna, were sitting on the ground watching Harry open his presents. Most of his presents had something to do with food. For example, this girl named Milly Strewford gave him a box of cinnamon cookies. Then this other guy, who was two years older than him, gave him an apple. They were mostly presents like that. Harry didn't care. He would make sure that he wrote them all thank you notes or thanked them personally anyways.

"So," said Harry. "How long did it take you all to plan this?"

"About two months," said Sam.

"That long?"

"Well, you know all those mysterious killings that have been going on around here all over places near London? Well, all our Mums didn't want us to go out by ourselves and throw you a party because they were scared that we could all be killed," said Sam.

"Yeah, Harry. Mum was especially worried about you because she knew that your Aunt and Uncle don't really…you know, look after you…and she kind of feels responsible for you in a way," said Eric.

"What is the deal with all these killings anyways?" asked Anna. "Ever since four years ago when they first started, more and more people have been dying. I was listening to some special report on the radio and it said that none of the victims looked harmed in any way. They were just…dead."

"I've been wondering about that as well," said Harry. "It's a bit freaky though because the murderer or murderers are killing in a direction that's headed right in our direction."

"Don't say that," said Anna. "I don't want to think about anyone I know dying."

"No one here is going to die, Anna," said Eric. "Hopefully, the police will catch the madman and he'll be locked up for good. I mean they have to catch him some time."

"How? They can't even get fingerprints. It's like some kind of magic force that's killing people," said Harry.

"Magic doesn't exist," said Eric. "Besides, if it did, wouldn't everyone know about it?"

Harry shrugged and said, "Don't know." Then he turned to his huge stack of presents and said cheerfully, "Who wants to help me take these back home?"

_The Wizarding World:_

The Burrow-

Ron Weasley was a fifteen year old wizard. He lived in a world marked by fear. He was going into his fifth year at Hogwarts, which was a school for witches and wizards in training. It might have been very fun for him to go there all the time but ever since the end of his first year, times had darkened. At the end of his first year, a dark wizard named Voldemort, or you-know-who as many people referred to him, had returned to full power somehow. Almost eleven years before,Voldemort had been stripped of his powers and forced to flee because when he had tried to kill a little baby named Harry Potter, the killing curse he had used rebounded onto him. Everyone knew about Harry Potter. He was, to many people, the Boy Who Lived. No one save the ministry of magic and a few other people knew where he went after Voldemort murdered his parents and after Voldemort fled. The only thing most people including Ron knew was that Harry should have come to Hogwarts the same year as he had, but for some strange reason, he didn't.

Ron's best friends at Hogwarts were Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnagan, and Neville Longbottom. At the moment, the other three boys were at Ron's house for they had come to stay for the summer.

"Oy, Ron, wake up!" someone shouted.

Ron groggily raised his head and said, "What?"

"It's breakfast, you don't want to miss it do you?" said another voice.

Ron's eyes snapped open. When he got up, he noticed that there was barely any light outside. He looked around and saw his three friends snickering. "We knew that would get you up, Ron," said Neville.

"You up for a game of Quidditch before your mum wakes up?" asked Seamus. "I brought my broom."

"Are you kidding me? Mum will know that we're going out even before we go out!" said Ron.

"He right," said Dean. "With you-know-who around, I don't think we should go out by ourselves."

"Have you been listening to that Hermione Granger girl, again?" asked Seamus. "I swear! She knows everything there is about Voldemort. I'm surprised that she hasn't already written a biography about him."

"She's not that bad," said Neville quietly. "She helps me with my potions sometimes."

"Homework, that's all she does," snorted Ron. "I was talking to Parvati the other day and she said 'Hermione is a pitiful soul. Lavender and I are doing everything we can to get her to stop reading so much. Actually, if you put a bit of makeup on her then she would look really pretty'. Imagine that, Hermione Granger, wearing makeup." The four boys started laughing. Just then there was a knock on the door. Ron got up and opened it. "Oh, it's you," he said.

"Yes, it's me," said a girl with bright red hair and freckles like Ron. She was wearing black robes and she had quite a bit of eye makeup on.

"What do you want, Ginny," Ron asked his younger and only sister.

Ginny rolled her eyes and said, "It is four o'clock in the morning. People are trying to sleep around here."

"So?" called Dean from behind Ron. Ron and his friends were very rude to Ginny because they were in Gryffindor and she was the only Weasley after many, many generations to be sorted into Slytherin. Gryffindor and Slytherin were two of the four houses at Hogwarts and the people who were sorted into Slytherin were generally not very nice. There was also a lot of rivalry between the two houses. "The noise doesn't bother us," continued Dean.

"Well, it bothers me," said Ginny glaring at her brother and the three boys behind him, "so please keep it down."

"We'll see about that," said Ron about to slam the door in Ginny's face. But before he could do so, Ginny's hand came out in a flash and held the door.

"One more thing," she said staring at her brother. "I couldn't help overhearing your conversation about Hermione. I do agree with you that she is a bookworm but you've seen all the curses and hexes I can do. We're not even taught half of those at Hogwarts."

"Then how do you know them?" asked Ron, growing irritated.

Ginny just smirked at him and walked back to her room.

"Where do you think that Ginny learned all those curses," asked Neville.

"Yeah, mate, even we haven't learned most of them," said Seamus.

"You don't think that…" started Ron but then he stopped.

"What?" asked Dean.

"Do you think that Granger taught Ginny how to do them?"

"Everyone knows that she hates Slytherins because of how much Malfoy teases her," said Neville.

"But haven't you seen her in class? She seems bored all the time," said Seamus.

"Sure, she's bored so she reads books on the Dark Arts," snorted Dean.

"Right," agreed Ron. "And maybe she's also a death eater and we can give her off to the ministry." The four boys began hooting with laughter.

Neville, who was laughing the hardest, wiped his tears and said, "Seriously, maybe we should ask Hermione if she does study the Dark Arts. She might say yes, she might say no. Only one way to find out."

"Ok, then, when we go to Diagon Alley, we'll ask her if we see her," said Ron.

And the four boys kept talking much to Ginny's irritation.


	4. A Trip to the Dentist

**No reviews...what is this world coming to? Just joking but really, I would appreciate a few reviews, it would make me want to update this story more often...**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters which you don't recognize... **

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Harry was sleeping one morning dreaming about the birthday party his friends had thrown him. After the party, he and his friends had brought all his presents back to his room. This did not go unnoticed by Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, or Dudley and they were gaping at him wondering were he could have even gotten so much stuff. Anyways, Harry was sleeping peacefully with a smile on his face when Aunt Petunia banged on his door and said in a shrill tone, "Wake up! We are all going to the dentist!"

Harry groaned and pulled himself out of his bed. He quickly got dressed and went downstairs. As he was making breakfast for everyone he, he sleepily asked his aunt, "Why am I going to the dentist?"

"Your silly school wants some sort of dental record for you," she snapped. "Get back to making the food!" Harry raised an eyebrow and went back to making breakfast.

A few seconds later, Uncle Vernon and Dudley also came down and sat at the table next to Aunt Petunia. Uncle Vernon opened up his newspaper and began reading while Dudley began twiddling his Smelting stick in his hand. Harry finished making the eggs and took out three plates. He put the three plates in front of his relatives and started putting the food on their plates. When he got to Dudley, he put only little because Dudley was on a diet. Suddenly, Dudley smacked him hard on his wrist with the Smelting stick. "What was that for?" asked Harry.

"I want more," Dudley said.

"You're on a diet."

"Who said you could tell me what I can or can't eat on my diet?" asked Dudley.

Harry reluctantly started putting more on Dudley's plate when he was cut off by Uncle Vernon saying, "Boy, don't put any more on his plate."

"But he said…"

"I know what he said boy," said Uncle Vernon.

"But, Daddy," whined Dudley.

"Now, Dudley," said Petunia. "You are on a diet. You wouldn't want the nurse to send a letter back home saying that you've gained weight, would you?" Dudley shook his head. "Good." Then she turned to Harry and said, "Put the rest in the fridge, Harry."

"But, what will I eat?" he asked.

"You're going to the dentist, boy! You don't eat before going to the dentist!" shouted Uncle Vernon from behind his newspaper.

"You're all eating," said Harry, who was very confused.

"Stop asking questions and put the food away," Vernon growled. Harry rolled his eyes and put the rest of the food away in the fridge.

Twenty minutes later, Harry and his relatives were in the car on their way to the dentist. Harry decided to take a small nap while going there. Anything was better than staying awake and listen to Dudley's horrible singing to whatever was coming on the radio. Harry went to sleep for what seemed like five seconds. Then there WHACK and Harry woke up. His head was throbbing painfully and Dudley was smirking at him with his Smelting stick in his hand. Dudley said, "We're here, so you might want to get out." Then he whacked Harry on the head with the stick and got out. Harry rubbed his head, glaring at Dudley and got out of the car as well.

Harry followed his aunt, uncle, and cousin into a place called London Dental Services. It was a small blue building with a statue of a tooth in front of it. As they went inside, Harry looked around. Not many people were there. There was an old man who was arguing with his wife, a lady who was holding a screaming child, a man reading a newspaper, the secretary at the front desk, and a teenage girl with semi bushy hair.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia went up to the secretary at the front desk while Dudley sat down next to the bushy-haired girl. The girl looked up at Dudley apparently disgusted and scooted over in her seat. Harry took a seat across from them.

"Hello, again," said Dudley with a grin on his face.

"Would you mind not talking to me," the girl snapped.

Dudley just laughed and said, "So what did you say your name was? I didn't get it the last few times I've been here."

The girl did not look up from whatever she was writing and said, "I didn't say what my name was now will you stop bothering me?"

"Am I really bothering you?" asked Dudley.

The girl's head snapped up to look at him and she said, "Yes, now shut up, please." Then she looked down and began writing again.

"Dudley, time for your appointment!" Aunt Petunia called from the other side of the room.

Dudley nodded then handed a piece of paper to the girl. "Here's my number. Call me." The girl snatched the piece of paper from him and went back to writing. Dudley smirked at Harry and went into the room for his appointment.

The instant Dudley went into the other room the girl snorted and ripped the paper with Dudley's number on it.

"Smart move," said Harry across from her.

"Thanks, he does that every time. I'm so sick of him. I see him ever single time I come back for the summer. I suppose that's one of the disadvantages of both your parents being dentists."

Harry laughed and said, "He's my cousin and I live with him."

"Poor you," she said going back to writing, but before she started writing, she saw Harry wipe his hair out of his face revealing the scar on his head. She gasped.

"What?" asked Harry.

"What's that on your head?"

Harry stared at her then held up his hair and said, "Oh, this? I got this in a car accident when I was young."

"Oh, was anyone hurt in the crash?"

"Yeah, my parents both died, actually." Harry noticed that the girl was staring at him in shock with her mouth open. "Er…are you ok?"

"You're…are you…Harry Potter?"

"Yeah, how'd you know that?" asked Harry.

The girl closed the book she was writing in and sat down next to Harry. "I'm Hermione Granger. I know that you'll probably find this hard to believe but your parents were witches and wizards…you're a wizard as well, or at least you're supposed to be."

"Wh-what?" asked Harry.

"You said your parents were killed in a car crash? What do you remember of it?"

"Um…just a green light, that's it," said Harry starting to edge away from Hermione.

"Well, your parents weren't killed in a car crash. They were killed by a dark wizard…just call him you-know-who."

"Right, I'm sure. Look, Hermione, I'm sure you're a very nice person," said Harry, "but I'm pretty sure that I'm not a wizard. I can't do any magic, see?" Harry waved his hand and said, "Abra Kadabra!" Nothing happened. "See? So maybe, you've got the wrong guy or whatever because magic doesn't exist."

"But it does, Harry, it does," said Hermione. "In my world, you're famous. Everyone knows your name…"

"Look, if you're trying to get me to buy something, then it's definitely not working. So if you don't mind I…"

"Fine, don't believe me, but I'm right and you'll find out soon enough with all the stuff that's happening. I won't waste your time Harry, but if you ever feel that maybe I'm telling the truth, I'll be here the rest of the summer." As Harry watched Hermione walk back to where she was sitting before, he shook his head and thought to himself _that is one troubled person. Nice but troubled.

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**Please review!**_


	5. How Weird

**Sorry it took so long to update this. I would have done it on Friday but unfotunateely, I had no internet connection for some bizarre reason. Anyways, this is an ok chapter in the opinion but the next chapter will definately be much better. I'm not sure when I'll be posting it though...**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters which you don't recognize.**

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**It was a week after Harry's dentist appointment and Harry was going to the mall…again, to see Anna, Sam, and Eric. He hadn't seen them or talked to them because the Dursleys had some guests over and they wanted Harry to clean the house, the backyard, and the front yard. Harry was only too happy to oblige… 

Harry got on the number 29 bus which was the bus he usually took to go to the mall. The only thing that Harry hated about going to the mall on the bus was that it passed by a cemetery. Something about this particular cemetery always made Harry shiver. Though it was very big, in the center of the whole plot of land it was on, was a gnarled tree, which was extremely tall. No one Harry knew could tell him how tall the tree was. They only told him that it had been there since before their great grandparents were born. The branches spread out in all directions and there were no leaves on it even during the summer. Harry felt that the tree gave off a kind of vibe that somehow called to him. He felt that he needed to go to the cemetery for some reason but he couldn't. That was what scared him. One time, he thought he had seen ghosts gliding around the cemetery.

As the bus drove by the cemetery, that same feeling crept into Harry's mind but it was gone as quickly as it had come. A few minutes later, Harry was at the mall. He quickly scanned the area for his friends and saw Eric sitting at a table in front of a café looking at a bunch of giggling girls. He had the oddest expression on his face.

"Hey, Eric," greeted Harry, sitting down. He followed Eric's gaze towards the girls then said, "You alright?"

"Er- what?"

"Are you ok?" asked Harry.

"Fine, just fine, mate. Just don't see how girls can be so…"

"What?" asked Harry, not seeing what his friend was trying to tell him.

"Nothing," replied Eric after looking away from the girls.

"This week just can't get any weirder," said Harry, stretching back on his chair.

"Even weirder than that week where every time the headmaster tried to put you in detention, he remembered that he had a hair appointment?"

Harry snorted at that memory. "Yeah, weirder than that. Did we ever figure out why he had so many hair appointments?"

"Eh, who did?" Just then, Sam came and sat down at the table.

"Sorry I'm late. Mum wanted me to wear my hair down. We had a bit of a fight about it."

Eric chuckled and patted Sam's shoulder.

"Anyways, as I was saying," said Harry, "it all started when I went to the dentist with the relatives."

"Ooh, how weird. Getting your teeth cleaned," said Eric sarcastically. Then he said, "You are aware that those girls are staring at us, right?"

"Those girls who you were looking at before?" Eric nodded. Harry turned his head to see that they were giggling at him and Eric so he flashed them a smile, causing them to giggle even more, then turned back to Eric.

Sam frowned at the girls then playfully swatted Eric on his arm. "Idiot," she mumbled.

"What was that?" asked Eric.

"Nothing."

"Can I go on with my story?" asked Harry.

"Oh, one of your stories, Harry?" asked Anna sitting down next to Sam. "I love it when you tell stories. They're so…pointless and meaningless," she said.

Harry glared at her then said, "Ok, then. As I was saying before, I was at the dentist and there was this girl there and…"

"Uh, Harry, why are you telling us about some girl you met?" asked Sam. Harry glared at her also then she said, "Fine, sorry, please go on."

"Her name was Hermione and…"

"What kind of a name is Hermione?" asked Eric starting to laugh.

Anna started laughing too but then she said, "Wait a minute, I think my Mum's uncle's wife's name is Hermione."

Eric started laughing even more. "Are you going to let me finish or not?" asked Harry in a very annoyed tone, "because I could just leave if…"

"No, Harry, don't leave," said Sam in the middle of laughter. "Keep going and I promise that we won't interrupt you again.

"Thank you, anyways, this girl, Hermione, she said that the scar that I have on my head was not from a car crash."

"And how would she know that?" asked Eric.

"She said that everyone knows about it. I'm apparently famous in her 'world', whatever that means." Eric snorted. "She said that in her world there's magic and my parents were wizards."

"Yeah, right," said Sam. "Magic doesn't exist though sometimes I wish it did."

"I would be scared of people with magic," said Anna. "They could hurt you or since they have an advantage over people without magic, do something even more horrible to us."

"Magic is ok," said Eric. "But I would be a little scared of it as well. What about you, Harry?"

"I- I don't know. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon never said anything about my parents and whenever they do talk about them they always have something horrible to say. It would make sense though. They hate anything not normal and magic definitely is not normal."

Sam rolled her eyes and said, "Harry, the only thing I can say is that you are an idiot if you are going to believe some random girl whom you've never even met before."

"Yeah, so don't think about it any more than you can. We all know that you want to learn more about your parents but, don't get your hopes up," said Anna.

Eric looked at Harry's dejected looked and patted him on the back. "You ok, mate?" Harry nodded. "Good." Eric looked at the watch on his wrist and his eyes grew wide. "Damn! I told Mum I'd be home ten minutes ago. See you all later!" Then he ran off to the nearest bus stop.

"Well, sorry, Harry," said Sam getting up from the table. "Anna and I have some…business to attend to." Anna rolled her eyes. "So we have to leave also."

"Sure," said Harry watching his friends leave. "Bye!" Harry sat at the table for a few seconds. Just as he was about to get up and take a walk around the mall, one of the girls who had been giggling came up to him. She was about 5 inches shorter than him and had black hair. Her face looked slightly piggish and she was batting her eyelashes at him.

"Hi," she said shyly.

"Er…hello," said Harry trying walk forward.

The girl stepped in front of him and said, "I'm Pansy, Pansy Parkinson."

"Er… nice to meet you. I'm sorry but I really have to go now." Harry gently pushed her to the side and began walking towards the bus stop.

"Wait! I don't even know your name!" she whined.

Harry turned around to look at her. Just then the wind blew his hair off of his forehead. Pansy gasped. "N-never mind…just, have a happy life!" she said real quickly and ran back to her friends with a horrified look.

Harry raised his eyebrows and looked at the girl. Somehow she knew him. She'd been almost scared of him as well. As far as Harry knew, he'd never seen the girl in his life.

Harry shook his head and walked to the bus stop. He looked at the chart that said when the next bus would be coming and much to his dismay the next one would be coming in two hours. Harry rolled his eyes and began to walk back to Privet Drive. It would only take him about half an hour to get back so he wasn't worried. The only thing that made him a little uncomfortable was the fact that he was going to have to walk by the cemetery. Little did he know that he was going to be in for a much worse surprise…

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**How was that?**


	6. A Fog in the Cemetary

**Wow, I got quite a few reviews for that last chapter. I was so happy when I checked my e-mail and I saw them. I like getting reviews, everyone does. Sorry for the long wait. This chapter was kind of hard to write. And to answer few questions, I honestly did not think of the cemetery in the fourth book when I first wrote this. You can pretend that it is if you want :) Then a few of you asked why Pansy would be at a muggle mall, well let's just say that she needed some clothes and she didn't want to go to Diagon Alley.**

**Thank you to you wonderful people who reviewed: Lightmare852, nuke2110, Poohdog, gothic kid 13, Angelo, and LATMC.**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters which you don't recognize.

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Harry slowly walked away from the bus stand and onto the busy streets that would take him back to Privet Drive. He knew the way back like the back of his hand but that was the only way that he knew. He didn't know an alternative way to go to Privet Drive that didn't pass by the cemetery. If there were an alternate way, Harry would have gladly taken that one.

Anyways, Harry was walking with his hands in his jean pocket and was staring at the ground. He didn't realize how fast he was walking because before he knew it, he was right at the gates of the cemetery.

He thought to himself, "It's just a stupid cemetery. If it is a stupid cemetery, then why am I so afraid of it? Maybe, if I go in and take a look around, I'll see that there's nothing wrong and everything will be fine." Harry shook his head and carefully walked into the cemetery. Everything looked so old and…dead. It was summer and normally there were flowers in bloom everywhere in the cemetery, everywhere except for the big tree in the center of course, but today, everything was gray. The ground was gray, the grass looked dead, there were no flowers, and the gigantic tree in the center of the cemetery looked much older than usual.

Harry still felt very hollow inside so he decided to ask someone who worked at the cemetery if they had any tombstones with the name Potter on it. Harry had never seen his parents' grave. His aunt and uncle had never taken him to see it and they had never told him where it was either. Harry saw a middle aged man with a badge on his chest that said cemetery caretaker. He quickly ran over to the man and asked, "Excuse me sir, but do you know of any tomb stones with the name Potter on it by any chance?"

"Eh, how long ago did they come in?"

"Err, about 13 to 14 years ago, I think."

"Not sure, son. Follow me and we'll see." The man began leading Harry to graves that were closer to the center of the cemetery and sure enough much to Harry's surprise, were about twenty tombstones with the name Potter on it. "This good enough for you, boy?" asked the man.

"Yeah, thanks," replied Harry in a depressed boy.

"Forgive me for asking but are all of these your relatives or something?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I'm just looking for my Mum and Dad."

"I'm sorry about that, boy. Well, if you need anything, I'll be back where you found me." Then the man briskly walked away.

Harry stood in front of the tombs with looking very melancholy. He slowly walked reading each of the tombs stones with the name Potter on it and sure enough, the last two he found were the graves of Lily and James Potter. Harry wasn't usually the dramatic one but he couldn't handle it any more. His parents' graves had been here the whole time and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't even have the decency to bring him here even once.

Harry stood up looking at the other Potter graves. For all he knew, they could have been relatives of his as well. He took one look at the graves of Lily and James Potter and decided that he would come here another day and place fresh flowers in front of their graves.

With that in mind, he began walking towards where he thought was the entrance of the cemetery. Unfortunately Harry had not paid any attention to where he was going while he was following the man who showed him to his parents' graves so he did not know where he was going. Harry stopped for a moment to look around and see if he could spot any entrance.

Harry was in an area of the cemetery which was a bit hilly. So, he climbed up one of the hills and began looking around to see if there was any entrance that he could spot. As his eyes passed a hill in front of him, his glasses suddenly became very foggy. Harry frowned as he took off his glasses to wipe the fog off. Much to his surprise, there was no fog on his glasses. Harry put his glasses back on and looked at the hill again. Like the first time, his vision became foggy. Harry took off his glasses and squinted at the hill. His eyes widened in surprise. The air around the hill was thickly coated in fog.

That was a bit odd considering that it was very sunny today. This fog around the hill looked dark, forbidding, and gloomy. Harry shivered once he put his glasses back on. He looked at the fog once again and noticed something. It wasn't what a person would call normal fog. It was more like…a blanket of something. Then again, it seemed almost familiar to Harry.

He cautiously walked towards the fog and stuck his hand in it. Harry could not see his hand at all. He quickly pulled back out of shock and looked at the fog. That was where his curiosity kicked in. After being friends with Sam, Eric, and Anna, he knew that he should not ignore his curiosity. It always rewarded him in the end so why not take a look at what was in the fog. Harry looked around to make sure that no one was watching and stepped into the fog causing his body to disappear completely.

Harry looked around at his surroundings and noticed that he was still in the cemetery but…it was very different. He had not been expecting the scene that he was witnessing. Thousands of people in funny robes were gathered in front of him, many of whom were sobbing. Harry looked around and also saw that many of them had some sort of stick hanging out of their pockets. As he looked around, he saw that people of all ages were there.

Harry moved closer to the hoard of people and quietly tapped the shoulder of the man in front of him. "Excuse me sir, but, why are all these people here?" he asked quietly.

The man looked at Harry with disdain then whispered, "Don't you read the paper? Dumbledore is dead…" The man rudely glared at Harry then turned back to watch the funeral.

Harry, who was very confused, started walking around the people towards the front. As he was walking, many questions were going through his head. _Who are these people? Who is Dumbledore? Why do they have those weird sticks in their pockets? What paper is he talking about? WHAT IS GOING ON?_

Harry stopped behind a family of eight, all of whom had bright red hair. He noticed that only one of them, a girl, was not paying any attention. In fact, she was admiring her nails and was rolling her eyes every time she looked at her family. Harry quietly walked over to her and said, "Excuse me but would you mind telling me what's going on here?"

The girl rolled her eyes and said, "Dumbledore's finally dead. We all saw it coming…he was an old man…and The Dark Lord killed him." Suddenly her eyes snapped up and looked at Harry very suspiciously. "You didn't know that?"

Harry looked at her and said, "No…I-I don't even know who Dumbledore is."

The girl's eyes widened for a second. She looked at him carefully and finally said, "Are you a wizard?"

Harry stepped back from her and said, "What?"

"Are you a wizard…wait, of course you are; otherwise you wouldn't have been able to see the barrier that led to this spot but then how…"

Harry rubbed his forehead as he watched the girl think. Suddenly, she said, "BLOODY HELL!" This drew a gasp from everyone at the funeral. In an instant, thousands of eyes were upon Harry and the red head girl. "You're…you're Harry Potter…"

Suddenly, everyone around Harry began whispering his name.

"Harry Potter…."

"…he's alive…."

"….right here…."

"…how…"

"…what's going on…"

"...is that really Harry Potter…"

"...he's got the scar…."

Harry looked at the crowd of people in front of him and saw that people were rushing towards him. He did what he thought was logical. Harry turned around as fast as he could and began running. While running, he looked behind and saw that people were chasing him as well, calling his name once in a while. Harry ignored them and kept running.

After a few minutes, he stopped and put his hands on his knees. No one was behind him any more. Harry knew right then that something was going on. It could not merely be a coincidence that the girl at the dentist knew his name when he didn't know her. It was definitely not normal that every single person at that funeral knew who he was. Then something popped up in his head….wizard…that's what the girl had asked him if he was. It was right then that he decided that he was going to march straight back to the Dursleys and demand what was going on.

Little did he know that the whole wizarding world would be in an uproar upon finding out that he was well and alive. No doubt, they would want an explanation as well.…


	7. Confrontation

Sorry for the long wait. I have not had time to do anything recently and this chapter was very hard to write. It's also very short and I apologize for that. So much arguing…I'm not too good at writing that as you can probably tell. Oh, and thank you to gothic kid 13, SongOfRoland, LATMC, and AngelMorph for reviewing. Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter, so please read and review at the end:)

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Harry Potter was angrily walking back to the Dursleys. Nothing at the moment would make him calm down. He wanted to know right now what the hell was going on and if no one was going to tell him, well then, someone would be in a lot of trouble.

How is it that so many people knew his name? First it was all those random people on the streets. Occasionally people would just stop him and shake his hand. Harry got used to it. He didn't know who these people were but he assumed that they were just nice people who went up to people and shook their hands.

Now, at some funeral every single person there knew his name. They weren't old either. That girl with the red hair knew his name…then there was also that girl at the dentist who knew his name. Harry'd never seen her in his life. Harry wanted answers. He was determined to get them.

When he finally reached number 4 Privet Drive, he quickly opened the door and slammed it loudly hoping to get the attention of his aunt and uncle who were somewhere in the house. Sure enough, he got their attention.

"Boy, what is the meaning of slamming the door like that?" asked Uncle Vernon loudly. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I nearly gave you a heart attack?" asked Harry softly, "I nearly gave you a heart attack? Well how do you think I felt when I went to the cemetery today?"

Aunt Petunia gave a sharp gasp and grabbed onto her husband's arm.

"I saw my parents' graves," continued Harry quietly. "Do you know what else happened today?" Harry looked at his relatives whose faces had started draining of all color. "I went further into the cemetery and…there was a funeral going on. It was for some guy named Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore?" asked Aunt Petunia whose eyes had gone wide now.

"You know him?" asked Harry.

Aunt Petunia hesitantly shook her head. Harry ignored her and said, "And you know what? Every single person there knew who I was." He looked at his relatives and said, "Don't you find that a bit odd?"

Aunt Petunia's eyes widened in realization as she whispered, "Vernon…"

"We're not saying anything," he whispered back. "We haven't said anything since we took him in; don't see why that has to change now."

Harry glared at his aunt and uncle who were whispering and said, "Do you want to know something else? The funeral I walked in on…only wizards could have seen it." Uncle Vernon let out a strangled sort of noise and Aunt Petunia gasped. "That would mean that I'm a wizard."

Uncle Vernon looked at Aunt Petunia then back at Harry. "There's no such thing as magic…no witches, wizards, or anything like that. How many times do we have to tell you that, boy?"

Harry raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, come to think of it, it makes sense. All those people know who I am…I don't know who they are…you don't believe in magic…that's why you tell me off every time I mention something to you about flying motorcycles or when something I can't explain happens."

"Harry, you are obviously very tired so go to your room and go to sleep, now!' said Aunt Petunia who was now obviously very distressed.

"No…I am not going anywhere until either of you tell me what the hell is going on." Harry looked at them with a glare plastered on his face. "Well? I'm waiting."

"Potter…is that any way to talk to us after all we've done for you?" asked Uncle Vernon detaching himself from Aunt Petunia.

Harry thought to himself for a moment and said, "No, I'm sorry, I should have been a little ruder, maybe."

Uncle Vernon's face slowly began turning purple. "Would you care to repeat that?" he asked slowly.

"I said no, I'm sorry, I should have been a little ruder."

Uncle Vernon's face was now a dark purple color. That also meant that he was about to lose his temper. Aunt Petunia shut her ears as Uncle Vernon began yelling at Harry. "I WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY NONSENSE FROM YOU, POTTER. WE HAVE RAISED YOU AS OUR OWN FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US? YOU COME TO US AND TELL US THAT WE'VE BEEN HIDING SOMETHING FROM YOU AND…"

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME!" yelled Harry. "Every single time I ask you what happened to my parents, you tell me that they died. I asked you where they were buried you said you didn't know. I asked you if you knew any of their friends, you said you didn't know. So you know nothing?" Harry turned Aunt Petunia and began yelling, "SHE WAS YOUR SISTER! How could you not know anything about her? Didn't you even care?" asked Harry quietly.

Uncle Vernon was about to start yelling at Harry again when Aunt Petunia put her hand on his arm. He nodded at her and walked into the kitchen. She walked closer to Harry and looked him straight in the eye and said, "Harry Potter, whatever happened between myself and my sister is none of your concern. I hate my sister and I don't care what happened to her. There was a time when that might have been different but that's gone. We told you that she and your poor excuse for a father died in a car crash. That is all that matters, nothing else."

Harry looked at his aunt with hate evident in his bright green eyes. In fact, it was so evident that Aunt Petunia stepped back in surprise. Harry stormed up the steps of the house without even turning around. If he had, he would have seen Aunt Petunia with a tear rolling silently down her face.

She was remembering the day that Lily had come to her and Vernon's house to invite them to her and James's wedding. Petunia had flat out said no. When Lily heard that, her green eyes were blazing with anger. It was exactly how Harry looked moments ago. That was the day that Petunia knew that her sister had her. This was the day that Petunia really knew how much Harry hated her.


	8. Off to London for Answers!

**Yay! I feel so happy! I updated in less time than last time...under a month! That is a personal goal for me. Ok, the last chapter kind of cam eout of no where but what would you do if someone was keeping your whole life from you? Oh and thank you Poohdog and Bukama Stealth for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer- I do not ownHarry Potteror any of its characters. They are all owned by J. k. Rowling but I do own those characters which you don't recognize **

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It was the next morning when Harry left his room. After his run in with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon the previous day about what had happened in the graveyard, Harry had stomped up to his room, slammed the door, and stared at the ceiling fuming inside. He had never really asked them what had happened to his parents. Then again when he did ask, they gave him vague answers and told him to go bother someone else. Was it too much just to know what happened to your family? With this in mind, Harry slept off and did not wake up till the next morning.

When he got up, he had a horrible headache and he was still feeling angry from the day before. Then he remembered something. He could go and ask the Hermione girl from the dentist. She had told Harry that she came every day since her parents worked there. Only it might be a little embarrassing since Harry had called her crazy before and now he was asking her for answers.

Harry thought about it for a while and decided that being embarrassed and getting answers was better than nothing. So he quickly got dressed and went downstairs to possibly grab something to eat before leaving.

When Harry got downstairs, Aunt Petunia was already in the kitchen making toast and bacon. When she looked up at him, Harry scowled at her. Instead of yelling at him like she usually did, she looked back at her bacon and asked, "Why are you up so early?"

Harry's eyes widened a bit in surprise as he answered, "I'm going to London."

"What for?" asked taking out a plate and putting two strips of bacon on it.

"A…friend of mine lives there; I'm going to see her," replied Harry curtly still scowling at his aunt.

Aunt Petunia put a piece of toast on the plate and held it out to Harry without looking at him. "If you're leaving, you'd better leave soon, the next bus for London leaves in twenty minutes." Harry stared at the plate not knowing what to do with it. "Well, take the plate, it's your breakfast."

Harry slowly took the plate glancing suspiciously at his aunt. He glanced at the food carefully then slowly took a bite. As he was eating, he noticed that Aunt Petunia was looking at him with something that Harry could not place. It seemed to be some form of affection mixed in with hate. He scowled at her again and asked, "Is it 'be nice to Harry day' today?"

Aunt Petunia took a step back and said, "No…I just…realized that you look malnourished…"

Harry snorted in contempt as he finished the last piece of his toast. He got up, put the plate in the sink and walked out of the kitchen muttering a quiet "thanks" to his aunt. Had he looked back, he would have noticed the same look that she gave him when he stormed up to his room yesterday.

Petunia Dursley watched her nephew's back as he exited the house. As much as he reminded her of the Potter boy her sister got married to, there was still some of Lily in him. The Lily who used to be normal…not the Lily with magic, and as much as Petunia wanted to hate Harry like her husband did, part of her wouldn't let that happen because Harry was the only relative left on her side of the family. The only blood connection to her sister…

Harry walked out of the house as calmly as he could. He was too preoccupied to even put together what had just happened in the kitchen. Harry wanted answers and going to London w probably the only way to get them.

He arrived at the bus stop where he would catch the bus that went to London. Today the stop was very crowded. The bus arrived five minutes later and it was bright red in color. It had some strange Latin words on it which Harry couldn't understand. As he got onto the bus and sat down at a seat, he noticed that most of the people who were waiting at the bus stop with him were getting onto the bus. He frowned to himself at this thought but brushed it off as it was probably around the time that people left for work.

Almost half an hour later, Harry was woken up by an old lady sitting next to him asking him if he was getting off at the bus stop across from King's Cross. Harry rubbed his eyes and nodded to her question. When she told him that this was the stop, Harry hurriedly thanked her and got off the bus.

It was extremely busy at this time of day. He could not recall ever seeing another place as busy as this. The good thing was that Harry still remembered how to get to the dentist office.

As he started walking down the street, he also noticed that there were many people wearing strange robes walking about. They were also clutching some kind of newspaper in their hands with…moving pictures? Harry tried getting a closer look but every time he got near, the people would always move and he wouldn't get a chance to see the paper. Sighing in resignation, Harry hurried to the dentists.

When he opened the door to the office, he saw that it was crowded with people of all ages and sizes. Harry scanned the crowd of people in front of him and saw Hermione in a corner glaring at the group of people next to her who were talking so loud as if they owned the place. They seemed completely oblivious to everything that was going on and it was annoying the heck out of Hermione.

Harry quickly sat down in front of her. When she did not notice him, he cleared his throat. "Ahem…"

Hermione glanced up from what she was doing and glared at him. She looked back down then back up. She smirked at Harry and said, "Oh, it's you. I figured that I might be seeing you soon."

"How?"

Hermione glanced around to make sure that no one was watching and thrust a newspaper at Harry. On the cover in large bold print letters it said:

_**Harry Potter Found at Last!**_

"What is this?" asked Harry.

"It's the wizarding newspaper," replied Hermione in a hushed tone. "The Daily Prophet." As Harry rolled his eyes, Hermione said, "Can you honestly tell me that you don't believe me now, Harry? You're a wizard. It's in your blood."

"I don't want to believe you," he muttered.

"Well, it is true and I'm sorry that you didn't learn of it earlier, it would have taken a whole load off your shoulder in my opinion, living with muggles…not that my parents are bad or anything, it's just the people you live with…" Hermione trailed off as she saw a scowl begin to form on Harry's face. "Oh, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…"

"No, it's ok, I'm not too fond of them. They won't tell me anything," said Harry handing the newspaper back to Hermione. He looked at the book she was reading and said, "What are you reading?"

Hermione glanced down at her book and said, "Oh, this, it's _Hogwarts, A History_. One of the best books I've read in my opinion."

"What's Hogwarts?"

Hermione's jaw almost dropped but then she remembered that Harry didn't know anything about the wizarding world so she said, "It's the school all witches and wizards in the United Kingdom usually go to. That's where you should have gone if you had gotten a letter."

Something in Harry's mind opened as he remembered a day four years ago when he had gotten a letter. "Was it by any chance a letter that was addressed to the room you live in, in your house?"

Hermione looked at him in surprise and said, "Yes, how did you know?"

Harry cursed himself silently for never asking more about the letter. If only he had opened it before giving Uncle Vernon the rest of post. "I got a letter like that when I turned eleven. My aunt and uncle took and I never saw it again. Knowing them, they probably knew that I was a wizard the whole time and replied saying that I wasn't coming."

"That's horrible, Harry."

Harry shook his head and looked at Hermione. She looked pretty smart to him, and by the looks of it, she already knew a lot about him so he assumed that she wouldn't have any problem answering one question of his. "Hermione, what can you tell me about my parents?"

Harry watched as the girl in front of him visibly paled. "I-I'm not sure if I'm really the one to tell you what happened. I mean I-I know what happened but I…"

"Tell me."

Hermione gulped and said, "O-ok. Well, it's the same in every book I've read about you. It was Halloween night in 1981 and you were with your parents." Hermione paused to make sure that no one was listening. "Then you-know-who came."

"You-Know-Who?" asked Harry. "I'm sorry but I don't know who- or is that his real name?"

Hermione shook her head. "No one says his name…it's _Voldemort_ though," she whispered. "Bloody powerful wizard, came into your house, and killed your dad first with the Killing curse."

"Killing curse?"

"_Avada Kedavra_…are you sure you want me to tell you this? It doesn't feel right."

"Keep going," urged Harry.

"He went to kill you but your Mom told him to take her instead…he killed her with the killing curse then when he went to kill you, no one knows why but the killing curse rebounded off you and hit you-know-who instead. He's back though, very much in power. And with Dumbledore gone…who knows what's going to happen." Hermione shivered slightly. She pointed to Harry's scar and said, "What's where he hit you with the curse."

Harry rubbed his scar and said softly, "Wow…and all these years I thought it was a car crash." He looked up at Hermione who seemed very shaken and said, "Is that all?"

Hermione eyes widened. She shook her head and said, "Look Harry, I really feel bad about telling you all this. I know that you really want to know more but I…I feel uncomfortable telling you all this."

Harry frowned and said, "Do you know anyone else who can answer my questions?"

Hermione nodded. "Professor McGonagall, she can help you. I you want, I can owl her and ask her to come to my house in two days or something, is that ok?"

Harry sighed and said, "I guess so, at least it's better than nothing."

Hermione smiled and said, "Don't worry so much, you'll get your answers eventually."

Harry gratefully smiled at her and said, "Thanks." He got up and looked at his feet. "Err…could I get your number just in case I need to err…reach you?"

Hermione smirked at him and mumbled something that sounded like "boys" and took out a piece of paper. She quickly wrote down her number and said, "How should I reach you?"

Harry took the paper from her and said, "I'll call you in two days. If I don't call then you can safely assume that I don't want to know anything else."

"Ok then…see you in two days, Harry," said Hermione going back to her book.

Harry looked at the girl, said a quick "see you" and left. Unfortunately, his mind was not the least bit at rest with what he had learned. If anything it was even more restless.


	9. Shattered

**Ok sorry about the long wait for this chapter. I have had absolutely no inspiration to write this for the longest time. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out faster because I finished one of my other stories. I would also reply individually to the people who reviewed but there's that new rule where you can't reply to reviewers so thank you if you reviewed! Oh by the way, I loved HBP. It is now one of my favorite books. Though I already knew what was going to happen in the end, I was still very sad, not as sad as I was when the fifth book ended but I was still sad...**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters, which you don't recognize.**

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After Harry finished talking to Hermione, he caught the bus that would take him back to Little Whinging. He was thinking about something though. He knew for certain now that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon did know that he was a wizard. The question was why wouldn't they just admit it and get on with their lives? Were they so desperate to be normal that they cut off everything that wasn't? Was it so terribly wrong that Harry wasn't like them?

Harry snorted at the last question. Of course it was wrong that he wasn't like them. They had made it clear to him ever since he'd been old enough to understand that his parents were dead that they despised him. They had loathed him for absolutely no good reason except for the fact that he was Harry Potter. Yes, he was Harry Potter who was apparently the savior of the wizarding world as Hermione had put it.

The more Harry thought about it, the more uncomfortable he became. Everyone knew who he was yet he didn't know who anyone was. He was alone, just like he'd been for most of his life.

Finally, the bus came to a stop that was a few blocks away from Privet Drive. As he got off the bus, he saw Anna bounding towards him with a worried look on her face.

"Hey!" she called as she ran up to him. "Help me, will you? Your cousin's friend Pier is following me again."

Harry raised an eyebrow and said, "Again? Didn't you yell at him the last time he followed you?"

Anna rolled her eyes and laughed, "You know people like him. Can't get a bloody word into their heads."

"Yeah," Harry muttered. He quickly glanced behind himself and Anna and saw Pier scowling at him. Harry cheekily smiled at the boy and grabbed Anna's arm and started walking with her towards Privet Drive.

Anna noticed his change in mood and said, "Harry, are you alright?"

"I'm fine…"

Anna stopped Harry and looked at him with a look of disbelief on her face. "Look Harry, we've been friends for five years. I can tell when you're lying." When Harry didn't answer her, she put her hand on his shoulder and said, "You can tell me anything. I promise I'll listen and I won't interrupt you."

Harry cracked a smile as he looked at his friend. He shook his head and continued walking. "Come on, I'll tell you while we're walking."

So, Harry proceeded to tell Anna everything that had happened in the last few days omitting only the fact that it was all related to magic. He knew that she was scared of magic. She'd told him so herself. He couldn't risk losing a friend over something that he wasn't even sure existed.

Once he'd finished telling her, Anna looked at him suspiciously.

"Harry Potter, do you really expect me to believe that you went to the cemetery, found your parents graves, crashed a funeral where everyone there knew your parents, then went to talk to that girl at the dentists, who told you that you're supposed to go to some elite school your parents went to but you're not going there because your Aunt and Uncle don't want you to get hurt?" Harry nodded weakly. Anna burst out in laughter causing people walking by the two to turn and stare at her. Twirling her dark brown hair in her fingers, she asked, "Do you honestly expect me to believe that? Well then again, this is coming from the girl who told you that your parents were…_wizards_." Anna shuddered at the thought.

"Yeah, well at least she knew something," replied Harry turning away from her.

Anna looked at Harry for a moment and said calmly, "You…actually believe that junk she told you about magic being real?"

Harry nodded and when he saw Anna look at him funnily, he said, "What's so bad about it?"

"Harry, no one knows what magic really does. I mean it could be harmful. Why would you want to associate with something that could hurt us?"

"How do you know that? You're just scared of it because you don't understand it."

"Because _I_ don't understand it? That's saying a lot, Harry especially since you seemed to be more confused than me right now. And don't you dare say that I don't understand it. You don't know a thing about it either," she spat. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do than to get into a fight with you about rubbish like magic." Flipping her hair arrogantly, she glared at Harry and walked away from him. As Harry looked at her retreating back, he heard her call out, "There's no such thing as magic!"

Harry ran his fingers through his hair. His emerald eyes looked more tired than ever. He knew that magic shouldn't have been brought into the discussion. It wasn't his fault that she hated magic. From what Hermione said, he should have hated magic too for killing his parents but he didn't. It just sparked some sort of a fire in him.

A few minutes later, Harry reached his Aunt and Uncle's house. He stood in front of it for a moment to look at it. This house was the epitome of normalcy. Nothing about stood out at all. The whole place was normal all the way from the picket fence that surrounded the garden to white color of the house itself.

Slowly, Harry let himself inside the house. Once inside, he started walking up the stairs to his room. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get all the way up the stairs because Dudley was at the top blocking it. "Move, Dudley."

"Why, Potter?"

Harry narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Because I want to go to my room."

Dudley scoffed at Harry and said, "Don't you mean my room? I remember that Mum made me give it to you."

"Do you live in it?" asked Harry holding onto the railing on the staircase. When Dudley didn't answer, Harry smirked and said, "I didn't think so, so move."

"Not so fast, Potter, I'm not finished with you."

Harry growled at his cousin and began in a very low voice, "Dudley, if you don't move, I'll…"

"You'll do what, Potter? Use you _magic_ on me?" Harry's jaw dropped. "How do I know? Well Mum told me. She told me that you and your whole family is nothing but a bunch of freaks who can do magic tricks."

"Don't say that about my family," replied Harry through clenched teeth.

"Not much of a family, are they? They all died before you could even get to know them." Dudley gave Harry a horrible grin.

"Shut up." Harry could feel his temper growing. He had a good feeling that Dudley was only egging him on like this because Pier had somehow managed to tell him that Harry had taken Anna away from him.

Dudley gave Harry a smirk, which did not look nice on his fat face and said, "Make up." Then without warning, he shoved Harry backwards. Harry rolled down the stairs and somehow managed not to get hurt. His fall down the stairs did cause an awful lot of noise, which managed to call Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon to the room.

"What in the blazes is going on here?" bellowed Uncle Vernon, looking at Harry who was on the ground. He looked up at Dudley who was at the top of the stairs and said, "Well?"

"Harry fell down the stairs," replied Dudley.

Harry felt his temper growing even higher at this remark. Uncle Vernon roughly grabbed him by the arm and said, "What did you fall down the stairs for, boy?" Right then something in Harry snapped and without warning, every single light bulb within twenty feet of Harry exploded.

Aunt Petunia shrieked as one blew up right next to her head. Uncle Vernon let go of Harry and jumped as the one right in front of the front door exploded. Then Dudley gave a yelp and almost fell down the stairs as well as the lights that lined the walls going up the stairs exploded. Harry on the other hand was smiling slightly. His emerald eyes were suddenly very bright and his body looked like it was glowing.

Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley gawked at Harry unsure of what to say or do. It was Aunt Petunia who finally spoke after a long silence. She regarded Harry who was still smiling and spat, "Are you happy now? You're a freak, just like your parents."

Harry merely smirked at her and walked up the stairs. As he walked past Dudley who was gripping the railing in fear, he glanced at him and Dudley let out a whimper and ran down the stairs towards his parents. As he walked away from his relative, he heard his Aunt say, "Vernon?"

"There's nothing we can do…_they'll_ probably appear at our door any time now. And when they come, we'll deal with them."


	10. An Unexpected Visitor

**Well, here's the next chapter and I hope anyone who reads it likes it. Thank you to Honigdrache for reviewing. Hopefully more people can review this timebecause I know that more than one person saw the last chapter so please read and review andtell me if there's anything that I need to work on or change!**

**Disclaimer- I donot own harry Potter or any of tis characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but i do own those characters, which you don't recognize**.

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A week had passed since Harry's outburst. He had stayed in his room for the most part and hadn't come out unless it was to go to the bathroom or to take a quick walk. No one would bring him any food so Harry had to resort to stealing it from the kitchen when no one was watching. Harry was bored to say the least but he didn't feel like doing anything. He would have gone to hang out with his friends but he and Anna were still on sour terms so he ruled that out.

On this particular day, it was scorching hot. Harry had even opened up all his windows in hope that maybe a bit of a breeze would come through but nothing happened. The air conditioning wasn't even on because Uncle Vernon was complaining about how it cost too much money.

Harry stared at the ceiling as he heard the grandfather clock downstairs strike three o'clock. DING. DING. DING. Out of nowhere, he heard a loud POP and a shriek followed. He shot out of bed and ran downstairs to see what had happened.

When he got to the living room where the rest of his family was, he almost burst out in laughter at the scene before him. Dudley was cowering behind the couch shaking with fear, while Aunt Petunia was standing on the couch behind Uncle Vernon who was pointing an umbrella at a tall, stern old woman wearing a black pointed hat and black glasses.

"Put that umbrella down, would you?" she barked.

"Who-who the ruddy hell are you?" asked Uncle Vernon, who was now purple in the face.

She sternly looked at him through her glasses and elegantly sat down on a chair behind her. "I shall assume that you invited me to sit down." She pushed her glasses up her nose and said, "My name in Minerva McGonagall and I am the Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"That's what it's called?" asked Harry who was standing by the entrance to the room.

The woman's eyes widened and her glasses almost fell off. "Bless my soul…if it isn't Harry Potter. I heard rumors but I had to verify them for myself."

Aunt Petunia who had stepped off the couch clutched her husband's arm and said, "What. Do. You. Want?"

She merely ignored this question as she looked at Harry with a small smile on her face. "Mr. Potter, please take a seat." She pulled out a stick and with a wave, she transfigured the glass table in the middle of the room into a wicker chair. Aunt Petunia gasped as Uncle Vernon's face steadily became a plum color. Dudley gave out a girlish squeal and ran out of the room. Harry stared at the woman in awe. "Mr. Potter, chairs are made for sitting so I suggest you take a seat." Harry sat down wordlessly and looked at the woman again. She looked as though she could be kind when she wanted to but there was also some sort of fierceness behind her eyes that Harry couldn't identify. "It's been quite a while since I've seen you. You were just a baby then so you couldn't possibly remember." Harry looked at the woman wide eyed.

"Anyways, I suppose that you are wondering why I am here."

"He's not going," snapped Aunt Petunia.

"Going where?" asked Harry.

"He will be going," replied the lady. "His learning has been put off far too long and with what happened last week-

"You know what I did?" asked Harry.

"Why of course I do, Mr. Potter. That is precisely why I am here."

"We will not pay for Harry to go to some school where they teach magic tricks and…"

"What the children learn at Hogwarts is not a loud of rubbish, thank you very much. He needs to learn to harness the power he has. If he doesn't then it could potentially endanger his life. One more thing, Harry had plenty of money to pay for his schooling. James and Lily Potter were not poor people at the time of their deaths."

"This is utter rubbish," yelled Uncle Vernon. "We promised that we would raise this boy to be normal!"

"Yes and I must say that you've both done a rather poor job of it," she replied. Harry snorted at the statement.

Uncle Vernon glared at the lady then turned to his wife. "Petunia, you deal with this. You know far more about any of this than I do." Then he stormed out of the room.

Aunt Petunia sank into the couch she had been standing on previously and put her head in her hands. She lifted her head back up to stare at the old woman. Slowly she said, "You were deputy Headmistress when Lily went to school, weren't you?" Minerva nodded. "I remember it from Lily's letter and Harry's letter now that I think about it."

"That's what was in that letter?" asked Harry who had been quiet the entire time.

"It was your letter of acceptance into Hogwarts. Your name has been on the list since you were born, Harry."

"Then err...Mrs. McGonagall-

"Professor McGonagall, please."

"Right, Professor McGonagall why didn't anyone come to get me before this?"

She frowned at Harry and said, "We got a letter saying that you did not want to attend."

Harry glared at his aunt who was watching them with a frown. "I never saw the bloody letter. How could I have replied?"

"I didn't want you to go!" yelled Aunt Petunia, frowning even more which was very unbecoming on her face.

"Why not?" asked Harry. "Because it would have made me different from the rest of you?"

Aunt Petunia marched over to Harry and pointed a finger at him. "You are the last relative left on my side of the family. Do you think that I would let you learn the exact thing that killed your parents?"

"So they didn't die in a car crash."

Aunt Petunia laughed. "Car crash…no they didn't. Got themselves killed by a lunatic," she spat.

"The same lunatic who happens to be terrorizing people all over Britain at this very moment," said Professor McGonagall.

"What?"

"You read the muggle news, don't you? The mass murders occurring all over Britain is the work of the exact same wizard who killed Harry's parents."

"He's still alive?" asked Aunt Petunia with a horrified expression on her face. Professor McGonagall nodded. "And you still expect me to let him go to your school." She nodded again. "Are you bloody mad?"

"Mrs. Dursley, Hogwarts is the most protected place in Britain at the moment. Hogwarts is the safest place for Harry apart from your house."

"My house? What do you mean my…" Aunt Petunia's eyes widened with realization as her lips formed an "O".

"I think it would benefit everyone if Harry came and studied at Hogwarts." She turned to Harry who was a bit confused and said, "Well, Mr. Potter would you like to study at Hogwarts?" Harry looked at his aunt then back at Professor McGonagall and nodded. "Splendid!" she beamed at him and took off her hat. She put her hand in it and pulled out a letter, which she handed to Harry. "All the information you need to know about Hogwarts is in there. Term begins on September 1st. Should you need any information on how to get your school supplies, you should contact Hermione Granger, a student in your year. Her address is in that letter."

"Oh, I know her," replied Harry. "I jus saw her last week, actually."

"That's wonderful, Mr. Potter." She stood up and motioned for Harry to stand up. After she stood up, she pulled out her stick, which Harry assumed was a wand, and with a flick transfigured the chair back into a glass table. "Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, Mr. Potter." She looked at Aunt Petunia whose face was devoid of all emotion and said, "Mrs. Dursley." Then with POP, she vanished.

A few seconds later, Harry muttered, "Bloody hell."

"I suppose you're happy now," said Aunt Petunia.

"Yes, I actually am."

She turned her nose in the air and walked past him. "Don't let me bother you then." Harry stared at his aunt as she walked past him.

He looked down at the letter in his hands and slowly opened it up. It read:

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on September 1. We look forward to seeing you there._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Headmistress_

Harry grinned at the letter and stuffed it in his pocket as he raced outside to find Eric, Sam, and Anna. He knew that they wouldn't be too happy with them but no matter what they would always be his friends. They knew how much he hated it here and how much he wanted to find his family. They would never stop him from doing that. He couldn't tell them about magic of course. Just that he had been accepted into the school that his parents went to, which was a boarding school. The worst that could happen was that they became angry with him for leaving so soon. Harry smiled as he continued running.


	11. Diagon Alley Part 1

**I don't have much to say except here's the next chapter. It'll be the first of two parts actually. I'm not sure when the next part will come though. AlsoI did take a lot of this from the Sorcerer's Stone itself but I modifed it a little to fit this story. Thank you to all those lovely people who reviewed. Anyways, please read and review this chapter as well!**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters, which you don't recognize.**

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It was around ten o'clock in the morning about two days later and Harry was sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast. He had decided to come out of his room since there was no point in staying in it anymore and much to his relief, his relatives were ignoring him. He didn't mind it at all. In fact he was rather enjoying it. He could go about and do whatever he pleased as long as it did not interfere with their lives.

On this particular day, Harry was waiting for Hermione Granger to come to his house because she and her parents were going to take him to some place called Diagon Alley. From what he could gather, it was some sort of a magical shopping place. Harry could not wait to see this. After all it was going to be his first interaction with other wizards apart from the very few he had already met. What he was really looking forward to was going to the bank. From what Hermione had told him, it was a huge place run entirely by goblins. He'd always imagined goblins to be horrible creatures that were about a foot high and smelled horrible. Harry had also found a tiny golden key in the envelope that Professor McGonagall had given him. It was apparently the key to his parents' vault.

At ten o'clock sharp, Harry heard a car pull into the driveway of the house. A few seconds later, he heard footsteps and the door bell rang. When no one made a move to get it, Harry rolled his eyes and walked to the front door. He opened the door slowly and saw Hermione there with her parents.

"Hi Harry!" She stepped inside and said, "These are my parents but I'm sure you already know them."

Mr. and Mrs. Granger stepped inside and shook Harry's hand. "Harry Potter, that's right, you're a patient of ours, aren't you?" asked Mr. Granger smiling warmly at him.

"Er…yeah," replied Harry looking at the man.

"Well, why don't you tell your aunt and uncle that you're leaving," said Mrs. Granger. As Harry turned to go, she called out, "Oh and don't forget to tell your cousin that he has an appointment next Tuesday!"

Harry nodded to her as he went into the kitchen. He looked at his aunt and uncle who still weren't paying any attention. "Well, I'll be going now." No reply. "I'll be back around evening, I suppose." Still no reply. "Great then I'll be going."

He was about to go back to the front when Dudley called out, "Isn't there something you're supposed to tell me, Potter?"

"How would you know that unless you didn't already hear it?" asked Harry walking out of the kitchen. He smiled to himself as he closed the front door.

"Everything alright, Harry?" asked Mr. Granger.

"Perfectly fine," he replied getting into the car. He sat down and Hermione immediately began telling him everything she knew about the wizarding world.

About half an hour later, the Grangers stopped their car in front of a book store. Hermione was still talking. "…hate Slytherins but you know, I don't know why they do. There's no real reason for it except for the fact that the rivalry has run between the houses for such a long time. I really don't think that they're that bad….Oh, we're here!" Hermione nearly jumped out of the car. Harry got out on the other side and looked around. There was a small bookstore, a shady sort of pub, and a record store.

"Are we going to the bookstore?" asked Harry.

"Of course not. You don't think they would actually have Diagon Alley out here in the middle of muggles, do you?" Hermione looked at her parents and said, "What time will you both be back?"

Mrs. Granger looked at her watch and said, "Around four." Hermione nodded and motioned for Harry to follow her.

"Hermione, do you have you letter and your money?" called her father.

"Yes, I do, don't worry."

"Remember, stay safe and don't do anything dangerous!" called her mother.

"Yes mother, goodbye!" She rolled her eyes and said, "It's like they think I'm moving away for good or something."

Harry snorted and said, "At least they care."

"Yeah, a little too much though." She brushed a few strands of her bushy hair out of her face, grabbed Harry's arm, and pulled him towards the pub.

"Is this what your parents meant by dangerous?" asked Harry staring at the pub. "Both of us are too young to drink. Besides, you don't look like a person who'd do dangerous things."

Hermione laughed and said, "The Leaky Cauldron is the muggle entrance to Diagon Alley." She opened the door to the pub and pushed Harry in.

When he got inside, he had to blink a few times before he could actually see. The place was very dark and had a musty sort of smell about it. In a corner of the pub, there were a few old women talking and smoking pipes and in another corner were a few people drinking some fizzing sort of liquid. There were also a few people sitting at tables and playing cards.

Hermione walked up to the counter of the pub and said, "Hello Tom!" She motioned for Harry to come over.

A few seconds later, a bald man who resembled a toothless walnut appeared from a door behind the counter. "Ms. Granger, a pleasure seeing you here." He gave her a toothless grin. "What can I get you today?"

"Uh…nothing for me, but do you have Butterbeer? I was telling Harry about it while we were coming here and he seemed like he really wanted to try it."

As soon as she said Harry's name, the whole pub became dead silent. Tom's eyes flickered towards Harry as he said, "Good lord…Harry Potter…it's an honor to have you here."

Harry raised an eyebrow at the man as he disappeared behind a door. "Do I know him?" he asked.

"No," smirked Hermione, "but everyone knows you."

Tom came back a few minutes later and gave Harry a glass with something in it. "Free of charge, Mr. Potter."

"Er…thanks." Harry picked up the glass and slowly took a sip of the drink. His eyes widened as he realized that it was actually very good. He felt a tap on his back and turned around and saw everyone in the pub right in front of him. The next second, everyone was shaking his hand and telling him how glad they were that he was back. Harry was so overwhelmed that it took him a while to realize that Hermione had pulled him out of the pub to an enormous brick wall. "That was…"

"Fun?" asked Hermione cheerfully pulling out a stick similar to the one Professor McGonagall had. "You'll be getting a lot of that. Don't worry." She started tapping the brick wall with it.

"Is that a…wand?" asked Harry his eyes shining with curiosity.

Hermione nodded. "You'll be getting one too." She tapped one last brick and suddenly the brick wall started opening. Once it was open all the way, Hermione beamed at him and said, "Welcome to Diagon Alley!"

Harry and Hermione stepped through the opening in the wall and it promptly closed once they were through. Harry looked around and was fascinated. There were shops everywhere with loads of people walking around. He walked up to one shop that was selling cauldrons and looked at a pure gold cauldron. "Do we need one of these?"

Hermione snorted and said, "Hardly, you need your money first." Harry nodded and let her lead him towards the bank.

The moment that Harry saw the bank, he knew that it would be a place he would never forget. It was a pure white building with bronze doors that towered above all the other shops in Diagon Alley. Standing next to the door was some sort of creature in a uniform of scarlet and gold. It was about two and a half head shorter than Harry and had a clever look about its face.

"What is that?" whispered Harry to Hermione as they walked through the doors.

"A goblin," she replied leading Harry to a set of silver doors. A pair of goblins showed them through leading them to a massive marble hall. More than a hundred goblins were sitting on high stools behind long counters scribbling madly on large pieces of paper, weighing coins in brass scales, and examining precious stones through large eyeglasses. There were doors everywhere with people coming in and out of them.

Hermione walked up to a goblin and said, "Good morning, this is Harry Potter, he's come to take some money out of his vault."

The goblin looked at Harry sternly and said, "And does Mr. Potter have his key?" Harry fished into his pocket and pulled out a tiny golden key, which the goblin took. The goblin examined the key closely before calling, "Cranedun!"

A smaller goblin with a nasty look on his face took the key from the other goblin and motioned Harry and Hermione towards one of the doors leading out of the hall. He opened the door for them and surprisingly enough, there was a narrow stone passageway that led to railways tracks. Cranedun whistled shrilly and a small cart raced towards them. The three of them climbed into the cart, which immediately took off without Cranedun even steering it.

About five minutes later, the cart stopped and Harry climbed out of the cart followed by a very green Hermione.

"Are you alright?"

"Don't. Talk. To. Me." she replied She leaned against the stone wall and took a deep breath. Then calmly, she followed Harry who was following Cranedun.

The goblin stopped at a small door in the wall and inserted Harry's key into it. As soon as it opened, green smoke billowed out of it causing Harry to cough. Harry peered into the room and gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins, columns of silver coins, and piles of bronze knuts.

"Wow," said Harry as Hermione looked on from behind him. "How-is this all mine?"

"Of course, Mr. Potter," replied the goblin with the nasty look still on his face. Harry wondered if that was how the goblin actually looked or if he had a particular dislike for him.

Harry turned to Hermione and said, "How much do I need?"

Hermione frowned and walked into the vault. Taking the bag that Harry had brought with him, she looked around and began dropping money into it. Finally after a few minutes, she handed the bag, which was a bit heavy, back to Harry. "This should be enough for a year."

"A year?" asked Harry wide eyed.

"Are you planning on coming back to Diagon Alley any time before that?"

"No but…"

"About half of this might be used up today because from what you told me, you have a lot of things to buy, not just fifth year items."

Hermione turned on her heal and marched out of the vault. Harry muttered a quick thank you to Cranedun, who closed the vault, and followed Hermione.

About twenty minutes later, Harry and Hermione were standing outside of Gringotts. Harry had received his key back and was about to go when the first goblin they had talked to had called Harry back and told him that there was important paperwork that he needed to sign in order for the vault to rightfully belong to him. It had bored Harry immensely but at least things had been cleared up.

He looked at Hermione still looked a bit green and said, "Where to now?"

She looked at her list and said, "Well…we'll stop and get you robes first. I need a new one anyways."

"Robes?" asked Harry pulling out his supplies list. He squinted at the list and much to his annoyance it was on the list. "Who wears robes? They're like…dresses," he uttered with disgust.

"Come off it, Harry," at least you're not required to get dress robes. Hermione sniggered as she remembered something.

Hermione led Harry to a shop called Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. The two of them stepped into the store and Harry immediately felt very out of place. The whole shop was covered with floor length robes and was filled with mostly girls. Hermione ushered Harry over to a squat smiling witch who was in the process of fitting robes for a boy who was scowling at her.

"Hello Andrew!" said Hermione cheerfully. "How was your summer."

"Brilliant," he muttered. He winced as the witch poked him with a pin.

"That's Andrew Taylor; he's a fourth year Ravenclaw." Hermione smiled at Harry and left to look for a new robe for herself. Harry smiled weakly at the boy whose only reply was to stare at him with wide eyes. As soon as the witch had finished fitting him, he took one last glance at Harry and said, "Harry Potter…wait till my friends hear this." He rushed out of the store almost forgetting to pay the witch.

She turned to Harry who was looking around and said, "Mr. Potter, it's a pleasure to have you here. I'm Madam Malkin and if you don't mind, we're on a tight schedule here so would you please stand up on this stool?" Harry stepped on the stool with a small scowl and almost fell off as she pulled a huge piece of black cloth over his head.

Once Harry had gotten all his robes, he and Hermione headed to a small café. "Harry, why don't you go get your wand. I'm feeling a bit hungry."

"Where do I get it from?" Hermione smiled and pointed at a shop behind Harry called Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

"Here, I'll take your robes." Hermione took Harry's bag and sat down at a table as Harry turned and walked to Ollivanders.

As he stepped inside, he heard a small bell ring. The place itself was very small and reminded Harry of a very strict library with small boxes in shelves piled all the way to the ceiling instead of books. The whole shop itself gave off a strange feeling to Harry.

"Good afternoon," came a soft voice. Harry jumped as he turned to the source of the voice. An old man was standing before them, his eyes shining like moons.

"Er..hello," said Harry.

"I thought I'd be seeing you soon, Harry Potter." He looked at Harry as though he was remembering something then said, "You have your mothers eyes but look exactly like your father. It seems like only yesterday that they were buying their wands.

"Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow for your mother, good for charms and mahogany eleven inches, pliable, for your father, excellent for transfiguration." The man looked at Harry with an unnerving look and said, "It's really the wand that chooses the wizard of course.

During this time, he had come very close to Harry. He peered at Harry's scar and said, "And I'm sorry to say that I sold the wand that did this. Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful…" He coughed and said, "Well now- Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled out a long tape measure with silver markings and said, "Which is your wand arm?"

Harry raised his eyebrows in confusion and said, "I'm right-handed." Mr. Ollivander held out the tape measure and began talking to Harry about wands. As he was talking, Harry realized that the tape measure was measuring Harry by itself. Mr. Ollivander wasn't even holding it.

"That will do," Mr. Ollivander said and the tape measure fell to the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave." Harry took the wand and giving a crooked smile, waved it around but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.

"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try-

Harry tried- but he had hardly raised the wand when it too was snatched out of his hand.

"No, no- here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, try it."

Harry tried and tried and tried. He had absolutely no idea what the man was waiting for. The pile of wands he had tried was mounting higher and higher. He had tried at least a hundred wands and was getting a little annoyed. Mr. Ollivander on the other hand seemed to get happier by the second though.

"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere- I wonder now- yes, why not- unusual combination- holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches nice and supple."

As soon as Harry took the wand, he felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head and as he brought it down, a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like fireworks. Harry smiled as he looked at the wand.

"Oh bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well…how very curious…how very curious…" Mr. Ollivander took the wand from Harry and began wrapping it in a box still muttering, "curious…curious…"

"Sorry, but what's curious?" asked Harry.

Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare and said, "I remember every single wand I've sold, Mr. Potter. Every single and. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather- just one other, It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother- why, its brother gave you that scar."

Harry swallowed and looked at his wand. "The wand chooses the wizard, remember…I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter…After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things- terrible but, yes, but great."

Harry shivered. He wasn't sure that he liked this man too much but all the same, he paid seven gold Galleons for his wand and exited the shop.


	12. Diagon Alley Part 2

Ok well, this chapter is kind of weird in my opinion but it concludes Harry's trip to Diagon Alley. Thank you to **Poohdog, smidge, FishOfTime, MelanieB, **and** japanese-jew** for reviewing! Anyways, please read and tell me what you think so far!

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters, which you don't recognize.**

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As soon as Harry stepped out of Ollivanders, he had a feeling that something was going to happen. He had these feelings a lot and they were always true. He was never sure if it was something bad or something good but something always happened.

He looked around Diagon Alley and his thoughts all faded away. The whole place looked to perfect for anything to happen. He couldn't believe that there was a whole world here that no one had ever discovered.

Harry smiled as he walked back to the café. Hermione was talking to a skinny girl with bright red hair. She had brown eyes that might have looked nicer had she not been scowling.

"…and you know what he said?"

"What?" asked Hermione, who was frowning slightly.

"He said 'I wouldn't be surprised if she killed us all one day.' How can he say that? I'm his own sister."

The girl's scowl deepened as Hermione patted her arm. "Just ignore him Ginny." Hermione looked up and saw Harry walking towards them. "Hello Harry, that took an awful long time."

"Tell me about it." Harry pulled out a chair and sat in it. "I must have tried at least two hundred wands before I found the right one."

"Two hundred?" asked the red haired girl with curiosity.

Harry looked at her for a second and said, "Yeah, two hundred. So what were you doing, Hermione?"

"I was talking to Ginny…oh sorry. Harry, this is Ginny Weasley. Ginny, Harry Potter."

"We've met," replied Ginny taking hands.

"Have you now?" asked Hermione with a smirk on her face.

"At that Dumbledore's funeral, I told you about that, right?" Harry let go of Ginny's hand and smiled at her. A faint spot of pink appeared on Ginny's cheeks.

"Oh, right," mumbled Hermione.

"So what house are you in?" asked Harry.

"Slytherin…I'm the first Weasley in centuries to be in Slytherin actually." Ginny smiled at Harry before turning back to Hermione. "Anyways, I hope he doesn't bother me today because I have loads of things to buy."

"Where are you going?" asked Hermione.

"Flourish and Blotts." Ginny bit her bottom lip and said, "I have a few books to buy that I don't want Mum to see."

"About what?" asked Harry.

Ginny stared at him then turned to Hermione. "Will he…"

"He won't say a word, trust me."

Ginny turned back to Harry and said, "Being a Slytherin, requires that you know your fair share of Dark Arts to survive. I was brought up in a pure light family so naturally I had no idea on the matter when I first came to Hogwarts. Don't worry; I won't actually use them unless I have to."

"Oh," replied Harry running a hand through his black Harry causing Ginny to blush again. Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry and said, "Come on, let's go with Ginny to Flourish and Blotts."

Harry reluctantly got up and took a few bags from Hermione. "How many books do we need to buy?"

Hermione got a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I need to buy three. You on the other hand have a lot more to buy." Hermione and Ginny exchanged glances as they walked towards the bookstore.

Once inside, Ginny said, "I'll be at the back. If any of my brothers asks if I'm here, say that you haven't seen me all day." Ginny winked at Harry and carefully made her way towards the back of the bookstore.

Harry smiled as Hermione once again rolled her eyes. "Here," she said. Hermione thrust a piece of paper at Harry that had about ten book titles on them. "Find these books." When Harry's face dropped she said, "You should be happy that at least they're not making you start in first year with a bunch of eleven year olds."

Harry snatched the piece of paper as Hermione turned and began walking towards the middle of the store. As he was walking, his eyes caught some of the titles of the books. They were the weirdest titles Harry had ever seen in his life. One title in particular _What Are Wendigos?_ made Harry want to laugh. He'd never heard of a wendigo in his life. He caught up to Hermione and asked, "What's a wendigo?"

She raised an eyebrow and said, "They are a type of creature sort of like werewolves but all they have to do is scratch you and you turn into one. They only way to kill one is to destroy its heart. Luckily you only find them in America." Harry looked at her stunned before resuming his search for his books.

About twenty minutes later, Harry had found all the books Hermione asked to find and was reading a book called _Quidditch Through the Ages_. It was about some sort of magical sport that reminded Harry of basketball. There were seven players and three different balls. The object of the game was basically to score as many goals as you could against the opposing team and for the seeker, each team had one, to catch a tiny golden ball called the snitch. Whichever team caught it would be awarded with 150 points.

Hermione on the other hand was reading a very thick book which Harry couldn't see the title of. She had her wand out and was staring at the book while moving her wand. She was so engrossed in what she was reading that she almost dropped the book when she heard someone say her name.

"Granger," drawled a voice.

She jumped and looked at the source of the voice. It was a boy a little taller than Harry with white blond hair and grey eyes. She rolled her eyes and said, "Malfoy."

"Fancy seeing you here. I thought you already got your things." Malfoy walked up to her and smirked at her.

Hermione didn't look up from her book but nodded towards Harry and said, "I'm here with Harry."

Malfoy looked up and his eyes widened immediately. He looked back at her and said, "Merlin, Granger. Is that…"

She looked up at him and smiled, "Yes, that is Harry Potter."

He touched her arm softly and smirked. "And we all thought he was dead." He walked towards Harry who was still reading a book and coughed. Harry looked up. "So you're Harry Potter." He held out his hand.

Harry shook it and said, "Yeah…seems like everyone around here knows who I am." Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry. This was certainly not what he had been expecting. He had been expecting some sort of a stuck up, spoilt, brat, who turned his nose down at everything.

"Who doesn't?" asked Draco with a smirk.

Harry closed the book and said, "I didn't know that I was famous till about two weeks ago, actually. Err…who are you by the way?"

"Draco Malfoy."

"Are you a friend of Hermione's?"

Draco turned to Hermione, who was still waving her wand and said, "You could say that."

"Oh…so you go to Hogwarts also, right?"

"Well, it is the only wizarding school around here," replied Draco with a sigh.

Harry nodded and said, "So what house are you in?"

"Slytherin."

Harry frowned and said, "I don't know a lot about the wizarding world but Hermione was telling me something about Slytherins and Gryffindors hating each other, yet two of her friends are Slytherin…"

"She's an exception," replied Draco promptly. "She helps us, we help her."

"Oh," replied Harry as Hermione came walking towards them.

"I think this should be useful." She smiled at the two of them cheerfully.

"I have to read that?" asked Harry with a look of disgust on his face.

"No, I was talking to Malfoy."

"Granger, are you serious? I refuse to read that."

"Who said you had to read this? Look through it if you want but you don't have to read it."

Draco frowned as he pulled the book from her hands. "What is this book anyways?" Harry peered at the cover as Draco turned it over. "_A Guide to Ancient Magic_? Didn't Pansy give you a book like this for Christmas?"

"She did," replied Hermione, "but that had more to do with wand magic."

"And this is…"

"Wandless magic," whispered Hermione her eyes shining.

Draco looked back in surprise and said, "But Granger, that's not what we had planned…" She glared at him then looked towards Harry.

Harry rolled his eyes and said, "I'll pretend I didn't hear a thing. You lovebirds can go back to what you were talking about." Harry grabbed a stack of books that was by his feet and said, "In fact, I'll go find Ginny." As Harry turned to go, he saw Hermione blush and Draco scowl at his back. As he walked away. He felt someone grab his arm. He turned and saw Ginny who was grinning at him.

"I heard the whole thing, Potter." Ginny looked at him with shining eyes. "I've been trying to tell Hermione that for days."

"Tell them what?" asked Harry confused.

She rolled her eyes at him and said, "They like each other. Everyone in our house knows that."

"Slytherin?" asked Harry.

"Yeah." Ginny twirled her waist length hair between her fingers and said, "No one really cares anymore about all the pureblood junk. It's all about survival now. Not that anyone else realizes that though…"

"Survival?" asked Harry.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" asked Ginny with a smirk on her face.

Harry frowned and said, "Am I supposed to?" He stopped when he noticed a look of panic cross her face. "What?"

"Damn…don't look now. My brother's found me." Harry turned around and saw a boy with hair as bright as Ginny and blue eyes storming towards her. He was followed by three other boys who looked a bit angry as well.

Ginny's brother walked up to her and said, "Where have you been? Mum's been looking all over for you."

"I've been here the whole time," she replied simply.

"Doing what?" he hissed. He saw Harry and said, "You were here with him?" When Ginny didn't reply, he looked at Harry and said, "You keep your hands off my sister!"

"I didn't do anything," said Harry looking the boy straight in the eye, "unless talking to her is considered a crime."

The boy's face grew red. "Why you-

Ginny stepped in front of her brother and said, "Ron! I was only talking to Harry!" Then turning to Harry, she said, "Don't mind Ron. He's an idiot and can't keep his nose out of other peoples' business."

"Why should I believe you? You're like the rest of them. Lying and cheating to get your own way." Ron glared at his sister who stepped back with a hurt look in her eyes.

"Ronald Weasley!" came a voice. Ron turned to see a fuming Hermione Granger march out from behind a shelf followed by Draco Malfoy. She walked up to Ron and slapped his square on his face. "I am ashamed of you for talking like that to your sister!"

"Do I care?" he asked rubbing his cheek where she had slapped him. His blue eyes flashed at her.

"You should," she hissed. "She was not lying to you either."

"Oh," said Ron looking at his friends who were laughing silently. "She wasn't?" He looked Hermione up and down and said, "That's a bit much coming from you, don't you think? After all, you're always so chummy with Ginny. I wouldn't be surprised is she's rubbed off on you."

Hermione's face grew white with rage as she stepped up to Ron. She would have punched him but Malfoy put a hand on her shoulder and glared at her.

"Malfoy! Don't you dare touch her!" yelled Ron.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Weasley," muttered Draco swiftly removing his hand. He looked at Hermione who nodded at him and said, "Well, I have better things to do that stay in the company of a bunch of pathetic Gryffindors." He looked at Ginny who was looking at him crossly and said, "Not you Weasley, not you." He smirked at Ron whose face had turned red once again. Then he turned to Harry who was looking at Ron with mild disgust and said, "See you around, Potter."

Harry nodded to Draco as he left. Ron's face suddenly turned chalk white as he looked at Harry. "Did he just say…Potter?"

Ginny laughed at her brother and said, "Yes he did, Ronniekins." She grabbed Harry's arm and pushed him forward. "This is Harry Potter."

Ron mumbled something to his friends who were looking at Harry in disbelief. Then he forced a smile on his face and said, "Ron Weasley, pleased to meet you."

Harry eyes Ron's hand with distaste and said, "Harry Potter, though I can't say that I'm pleased to meet you." Ginny snorted and Hermione grinned as she stood next to Harry. Ron's face turned a little red as he said, "Err- I guess I'll see you at school then."

As Ron and two of his friends turned to go, Ginny, and Hermione burst into laughter.

"That was priceless, Harry," said Hermione smiling at him.

"You're alright, Harry," said Ginny looking up at him with bright eyes. Harry couldn't help but smile back at her. A small cough interrupted them.

"Yes, Neville?" asked Hermione.

The boy in front of them was shorter than Harry and looked kind of like a mouse. He had plain brown hair and seemed a little shy. "I just want to say that I'm sorry about Ron. I-I don't know what got into him."

"Don't worry about it, Neville," replied Hermione softly.

He nodded to himself and looked up at Harry with awe in his eyes. "So, you're Harry Potter. I just have to say that I'm honored to meet you. Oh, I'm Neville Longbottom by the way." Harry smiled at Neville who said weakly, "I hope we can be friends even if you don't want to be friends with Ron."

Harry looked at the boy and said, "Sounds good to me." Neville smiled weakly at Harry and left muttering a weak goodbye. "He's kind of…"

"Odd? Cowardly? An idiot?" asked Ginny who was looking at another book.

"Ginny!" Hermione looked at Neville's retreating back. "Neville's been through a lot. He lives with his grandmother."

"What happened to his parents?"

Hermione looked at Ginny and said to Harry, "You know, he never actually told me what happened to them."

Ginny looked up form her book and said, "That means that he doesn't want you to know." She snapped the book shut and said, "Honestly, you Gryffindors are so thick sometimes." Ginny started walking towards the front of the store.

"Are you buying that book?" called out Harry picking up his books.

"No, I'm stealing it. My Slytherin side has finally taken control of my mind and is possessing me to steal in," she muttered. "Of course I'm buying this book!" she said tossing her hair.

"Ginny, don't talk about things like that in a bookstore. People might not think that you're joking," said Hermione falling in step with Harry.

"Oh, Hermione, lighten up," replied Ginny smirking at her friend. She looked at Harry and raising her eyebrow, said, "Are you really buying all of those?"

"Hermione wanted me to…"

"And you're going to listen to her?" Harry shrugged. "She's a mad woman, Harry. She'll keep you up all night with those lecturing you on the proper way to take good notes in potions class when Professor Snape is fixing you with a death glare and the thirteen different ways to identify a manticore's footprint." Hermione blushed. Ginny looked sternly at her and said, "Don't bother denying it either. If I see Harry looking overly tired, I'll know exactly who to blame."

"It might not be me, you know. Harry might want to play Quidditch and we all know how much that can tire a person out."

"There's Quidditch at Hogwarts?" asked Harry, his green eyes lighting up at once.

"Of course!" replied both girls, one looking a bit cross and the other one looking positively delighted.

Ginny stared at Harry for a second and said, "Hermione, I think you should lend Harry your copy of _Hogwarts: A History_."

"I think that book's in this pile," replied Harry.

"Good, read it then," replied Ginny giving the clerk at the counter her book. The clerk merely held the book in her hand and began staring at Harry. Ginny noticed this and snapped, "I haven't got all day here."

The clerk glared at Ginny and told her the price of the book. As soon as Ginny had finished paying, she said, "Well, Mum's probably looking for me so I'll see you both on train." She waved goodbye to Hermione, who waved back and also to Harry and blushed as he waved back to her.

Hermione snorted as she helped Harry give his books to the clerk.

"What?" asked Harry.

"Nothing."

"No really, what?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking about something. Nothing that concerns you." Harry regarded her suspiciously as he paid for his books.

It was a little after four by the time Harry and Hermione left Diagon Alley. Hermione was carrying two small bags while Harry was carrying about six. Along with the six bags, Harry was also carrying a pure black cat with green eyes eerily similar to Harry's. He hadn't thought of a name yet. He had bought her at the same shop that Hermione had bought her cat, Crookshanks at. From what he was told, Crookshanks was a cat with frizzy ginger colored hair and was very dear to Hermione.

The Grangers dropped Harry off at Privet Drive and told him to call them if he ever needed anything. Once Harry thanked them for taking him, he walked into the house evicting a shriek from Aunt Petunia who had seen Harry's cat.

"You bought a…_cat_?"

"Yeah," replied Harry dumping his bags on the ground to pet the cat which was pawing at the lacing on a couch. "I couldn't resist." Harry smiled at the cat oblivious to the fact that his aunt clearly did not want to hear him talk about his cat.

"That _thing_ will stay outside at all times and you will feed it."

"She's not a thing," shot Harry glaring at his aunt. "She's cat and I won't keep her outside. She'll stay in my room."

Aunt Petunia let out a cry of frustration as Harry picked up his bags and began walking up the stairs. She plopped down on the couch and clutched her head and she heard Harry yell, "By the way, I need a ride to King's Cross next Monday!" The last thing she heard was a muffled laugh and the slamming of a door.


	13. It's Only the Beginning

**Ok, I am very sorry for not updating this sooner. I know that when I started my other story, I said that I would update this one too but the thing is, when I first started writing this,I thought that I would only take it up till this chapter but then I realized that the whole story owuldn't be very interesting if I cut it here so I had to revise a lot of things. Anyways, thanks as always to those lovely people who reviewed!**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters, which you don't recognize.**

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Harry Potter woke up at 7:00 in morning on September 1st. He quickly took a shower and went downstairs to eat some toast.He came back up a few minutes later and laid back on his bed staring at the ceiling. He was excited for one. He was going to a new place. A place that defied everything that he'd been led to believe his entire life. A place where his parents had once lived...there would probably even be people who knew his parents.

He was also very nervous. He knew nothing about magic. He probably wouldn't even be able to do magic. All the teachers would probably laugh at him. Some of the students would laugh at him. They might send him back to the Dursleys. Harry couldn't bear that thought. He wanted more than anything to get away from this place.

When he had told Sam, Anna, and Eric that he was leaving, the three of them were speechless. Eric took it the best out of all of them. He was the only one he had trusted with the real reason of why he had left. Surprisingly enough, he didn't really care. As long as Harry came and visited them over the summer and wrote letters or something, he would be fine. Sam and Anna didn't take it too well. Neither of them understood why Harry would ever want to leave Little Whinging.

He sat up on his bed and took a deep breath. He had talked to Hermione the night before and she had assured him that he would be fine. She said that she would even give him extra tutoring if he needed it. Harry smiled at the thought of the girl.

Looking at his clock, he noticed that it was only 7:45. The train would leave at eleven and Hermione would be here to pick him up at around 9:30. She told Harry that she didn't like searching for a compartment. So, being the normal teenage boy that Harry was, he promptly fell asleep.

He was woken up an hour and a half later by Aunt Petunia's shrill scream followed by a persistent knock on his door.

"Wake up! It's 9:15." Aunt Petunia rapped on his door until he reluctantly got up and opened it. "Finally! Your girlfriend is coming in fifteen minutes to pick you up."

Harry scowled at her and replied, "Firstly, she's not my girlfriend and secondly, I woke up at seven this morning and all my things are already packed." Harry pushed opened his door slightly to show her his trunk along with his cat, which was sleeping on top of it.

Petunia frowned slightly as she saw the cat. "You're taking that thing with you, aren't you?"

"Naturally," replied Harry sourly. "I wouldn't dream of leaving her here with you." Harry did nothing to hide his disdain for his aunt and she did nothing to show she cared.

"Hmph, well, bring your things down soon. I don't want to keep them waiting for long." Petunia turned sharply on her heel and sauntered down the stairs. Harry rolled his eyes and walked back into his room to get his trunk. Picking up his cat, he placed her on his shoulders. He still hadn't thought of a name yet, which displeased him greatly. As he stooped down to lift the handle of his trunk, the cat woke up and unconsciously dug its tiny claws into Harry's neck. Harry winced slightly but relaxed as it retracted them.

The cat perched sat up on Harry's shoulder and watched intently as Harry began to lift his trunk. Suddenly there was a noise and the cat's eyes narrowed. It let out a hiss followed by a snarl. A few seconds later, Harry's cousin, Dudley walked into the room with a smirk on his face. The cat hissed once again and dug its claws into Harry's shoulder. Harry winced and looked at the cat with a glare. The cat dropped his head but continued to glare at Dudley.

"What do you? You're irritating my cat."

Dudley walked up to Harry's trunk with a smirk on his face and picked up the other end of Harry's trunk and said, "Lift."

Harry scowled at his cousin but lifted the trunk anyways. Dudley was not exactly what you would call fat. He was just rather large and had an extraordinary amount of muscle for someone his age. The two of them carried the trunk down the stairs and placed it in front of the door.

Harry stared at his cousin with his green eyes narrowed and asked, "What do you want, Dudley?"

Dudley leaned against the wall and said, "What? Can't I help my weak little cousin carry his heavy trunk down the stairs?" Harry scowled and petted his cat who was staring uncannily at Dudley. Dudley shivered as he saw how eerily similar his cousin and his cat looked with their black hair and green eyes. "Fine, I just wanted to say that I'm glad you're going."

"You're…what?"

"I'm glad you're going to that school," replied Dudley calmly, keeping his eyes on Harry's cat. "You'll be with freaks exactly like you."

Harry's lips curled into a small smirk as he lifted his cat off his shoulders. "It's an improvement from here at least."

Dudley frowned at Harry before saying, "Do you really think that we're that bad?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at his cousin before asking slowly, "What else am I supposed to think?" The two cousins regarded each other silently before Dudley turned and walked out of the room. Harry watched his cousin's retreating back before shaking his head. Dudley was an idiot. It was too late for them to be friends. If they had wanted to be friends then Dudley should have started a few years ago.

Harry's cat jumped out of his hands much to Harry's surprise and began pawing at the door. Harry frowned and picked up the cat. He opened the door and saw Hermione in front of it about to knock on it.

"Oh, hello Harry!" Hermione frowned at him and looking at his untidy hair said, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, my trunk's right here." Harry put his cat on the floor and dragged his trunk outside. Hermione stepped to the side and picked the cat up.

"Harry, your cat is adorable. What's her name?"

"I haven't thought of one yet," replied Harry as Mr. Granger came to get Harry's trunk.

"Ginny might know of a name," replied Hermione handing the cat back to Harry.

"Hello Harry, ready to go?" Harry nodded and Mr. Granger smiled. "That's wonderful." After lifting Harry's trunk into the car, he smiled at the two and said, "We can leave at any time."

Harry nodded and said, "Give me a minute." He walked back up to the house and stood in the doorway. He sighed and looked around at the perfect house that he had grown up in for fifteen years. Nothing was out of place. Even the little cupboard that he had lived in for the longest time looked neat, from the outside that it. You would never have been able to tell that a little boy once lived in there. He shook his head and with a small smile, closed the door.

Hermione and Harry arrived at King's Cross about 45 minutes later. Harry had gone to sleep in the car much to Hermione's annoyance. She had hoped to tell him more wonderful things about Hogwarts. Once they reached the station, she poked Harry and said, "Harry, wake up."

Her cat Crookshanks got up from its place next to Hermione and walked onto Harry causing him to open his eyes. He yawned and widened his eyes as he saw the cat's bushy face right in his. His cat, which was on his shoulder woke up as well and meowed at Crookshanks. Crookshanks turned up its nose and walked back to Hermione. "Your cat is huge."

"It's part kneazle," replied Hermione getting out of the car.

Harry yawned and got out of the car. He looked around and said, "Do you see anyone from Hogwarts?"

"No, but you'll see them on the platform. Help me with the trunks, will you?"

Fifteen minutes later, Harry found himself in front of a barrier that divided platforms nine and ten. "Erm…are we in the right place, Hermione?"

"Of course we are, why?"

"I just…well, where's the platform?" Harry looked around confused.

Hermione laughed and said, "Do you honestly think that there would be a platform nine and three quarters in a muggle station?"

"No but-

"This wall is the entrance to platform nine and three quarters." Hermione pushed her trolley up to this and said, "All you do is run straight into it." She lined up right in front of the wall and said, "Watch me and come after." She turned to her parents who were waiting quite a distance behind them and waved. They waved back and yelled for her not to forget to write. With a bright smile in Harry's direction, she ran towards the wall and promptly vanished into it.

Harry blinked and rubbed his eyes, amazed at what he saw. Taking a deep breath, he lined himself up with the barrier like Hermione had done and ran forward. The wall was approaching fast. Harry wasn't so sure about this. What if he crashed into the wall? He felt his cat dig her claws into his shoulders. There was no time to think now. Harry shut his eyes waiting for the inevitable but opened them as he felt nothing. Looking around, he saw a scarlet engine in front of him and a sign above him that said in bold writing, platform nine and three quarters. Hermione was a few feet away talking to an Indian girl wearing black robes.

Harry took a deep breath and walked towards the two. It was still very overwhelming and he couldn't grasp how magic could exist. He knew that it wasn't any scientific sort of thing but it was still very confusing.

He pushed his trolley next to Hermione where it was immediately taken by a man in a hat the same exact color of the train. He lifted his cat off his shoulder and began petting it as he looked around. There were so many people. Harry couldn't believe that everyone here was a witch or a wizard. A whole thriving community had been living right under his very nose yet he had no idea about it at all.

People were staring at him. It was as though they had never seen another human being in their lives. A few were even openly pointing at him while he was looking at them. Hermione had warned him that something like this would happen. She had shown him the newspaper that the wizards got. Harry had been surprised to say the least. The majority of the articles had been about him.

He felt a slight tapping on his shoulder and turned to see Hermione scowling at him. The Indian girl with her was looking at him intently.

"Yes?" asked Harry.

"As I was saying Padma, this is Harry Potter. He'll be in our year." Harry looked at the Indian girl. She was a little taller than Hermione and rather slim. She had sharp brown eyes framed by thick black eyelashes and jet black hair that went down to the middle of her black. She looked like a very smart person in an un-bookish way.

She regarded Harry for a moment with wide eyes before grinning at him. She stuck her hand out and said, "Padma Patil, I'm in Ravenclaw."

Harry shifted his cat to one of his hands and took hers. "Harry Potter, err…no house."

Padma smiled at Harry and said, "Do you have any idea of what house you want to be in?"

"Uh…I haven't actually thought about that. Any house would be fine, as long as I get into one."

Padma looked at Hermione who seemed to be looking for someone else. She looked back at Harry and said, "Well, if you get into Gryffindor, watch out for my sister. She is the most infuriating person I've ever met in my life. By the way, it was a pleasure to meet you." Padma turned to Hermione before saying, "I'll see you around, Hermione."

Hermione turned back to the girl and nodded. Immediately, she turned away from Harry and began searching that platform for something. Harry noticed this and said, "Hermione, are you looking for someone?"

"What? Oh, I'm looking for…Ginny!" Hermione ran towards the red-headed girl who quickly separated herself from her three older brothers. She had a look of disgust written all over her face.

"Thank god you're here, Hermione. I swear they were getting more annoying by the second." She saw Harry behind Hermione and her cheeks went pink for a second. She waved and said, "Potter."

Harry walked up to Ginny with his cat still in his hands and said, "Hello Ginny."

Ginny felt the heat rising in her cheeks but it evaporated as soon as she saw the cat in Harry's hands. "Is that a cat?"

Harry held the cat out to Ginny who took it with shining eyes. "I bought her at Diagon Alley. I don't have a name for her yet."

"Names are easy to think of," replied Ginny, stroking the black cat's soft fur. She gave the cat back to Harry and frowned. "It's funny though. She looks a lot like you."

"I know," replied Harry smiling at the red head. "Hermione said you were good with names. Got any ideas?"

Ginny smiled and said, "I am. Let's see…Blackie?" Harry shook his head. "Guinevere?"

"Too common."

"I suppose so…Ebony?"

"No."

"Green eyes?"

"As nice as that sounds, it reminds me of a dwarf or something." Harry stroked the cat causing it to dig its claws into his palm. He yelped and Ginny snickered.

"How about claws?" Harry shook her head and scowled at his hand. "Jaws?"

"That is a shark's name."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. "How about Tala?"

Harry looked at his cat and murmured, "Tala…that's good." His eyes lit up causing Ginny to feel funny. "Thanks Ginny."

She barely managed to smile before saying, "Anytime Potter."

Harry petted Tala before saying, "Have you seen where Hermione's gone off to?"

Ginny scratched Tala's ears before laughing. "She's probably gone to find her dearest boyfriend."

Harry snorted and said, "You're probably right."

Ginny nodded and said, "Yeah but there's still the fact that she's a Gryffindor. As much as the Slytherins do respect her, they would never be happy with her dating Draco. There's too much rivalry going on between the two houses. It's become even more now that Ron's a prefect."

Harry looked at Ginny's brown eyes which seemed to hold some kind of glint in them. He blinked and it was gone. "What house do you think I'll be in?"

Ginny looked up and said, "Honestly, I don't know. Mum was saying something about both your parents being Gryffindors so…"

Harry smiled at her before looking around. He smiled as the people passing by him stared. It felt very uncomfortable but he knew the he had better get used to it soon. People would be doing it a lot. Harry also noticed that people were beginning to get onto the train so he said, "Ginny, should we get on the train now?"

Ginny looked around and yawned. "I suppose so." She looked back at Tala who was purring contently and said, "You have a lovely cat." Ginny turned on her heel and began walking towards the train.

Harry was about to follow when suddenly, two pairs of arms grabbed him and began steering him in the other direction. Harry looked at the boys who had grabbed his arm and said, "Do you give this kind of special treatment to everyone?"

The boy on his right laughed and said, "No we don't, Potter. This is just for you." He had a heavy Irish accent. The Irish boy and the other boy dragged Harry onto the train and stopped right in front of none other than Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom. The two boys dropped his arms and went to stand behind Ron.

"Ah Harry, it's so nice to see you again," said Ron with fake cheerfulness. He turned to the other three boys and said, "You guys go ahead and find a compartment. I need to have a quick chat with Harry."

As soon as the other three left, Ron turned to Harry with a grim expression. "I saw you with my sister."

"And?" asked Harry putting Tala on his shoulder.

"What were you doing with her?" Ron's blue eyes bore into Harry's intensely.

"She was helping me think of a name for my cat," replied Harry simply.

"That's all?" asked Ron in disbelief.

"Yes, that's all."

"You swear, Potter?"

Harry raised an eyebrow and replied, "Yes."

Ron nodded and said, "Ok, I guess I'll have to take your word for it." He looked at the floor for a while then back at Harry. It was a few minutes before he said, "About the other day, I think we got off on the wrong foot."

"Apparently so," replied Harry in a polite tone.

"Ginny is the only girl in our family. Me and my brothers, there's six of us, we try to look out for her."

Harry nodded and said, "That's nice of you." There was a loud whistle and the train began to move. Tala hissed causing Ron to look at her apprehensively.

Ron looked around and said, "Anyways, I'm-I'm sorry about the other day."

Harry shrugged and said, "It's fine." Harry didn't really mean to be so unresponsive to the boy but he couldn't help it.

"So," began Ron, "are we ok?" He stuck his hand out and waited for Harry to take it.

Harry looked warily at Ron's hand before breaking out into a grin and saying, "Yeah, I suppose we are."

Ron grinned at Harry and said, "Well, I have to go to a prefect meeting." He pulled a small badge out of his pocket and looked at it. "This would be something to look forward to if it wasn't for the fact that Hermione is also a prefect."

"Is that a bad thing?" asked Harry with some amusement.

Ron snorted and said, "You have no idea. Honestly, you should see her in class. She jumps up and down like a rabbit. She never stops." Ron got a thoughtful look on his face and said, "Sometimes, I wonder though. She would have been a good Slytherin."

"How so?"

"She has all their qualities. Besides, she's practically one of them. She spends all her time them."

"Why isn't she one then?"

Ron looked around before saying, "She's not a pureblood." He shrugged and said, "Slytherins pride themselves on being pure. I'm a pureblood but I could care less. The muggle-borns are just as good as any one of us. I mean look at Hermione. She's brilliant. Don't tell her I said that though." Ron smirked at Harry before saying, "Well, Harry, I've got to go. I'll see you around." Just as Ron was about to walk off he turned back to Harry and said, "By the way, watch out for Lavender and Parvati."

"I got the same warning from err…Padma," replied Harry with a confused look.

Ron laughed and said, "They must have gotten a lot worse then." With a quick wave, Ron walked off whistling to himself.

Harry watched Ron as he disappeared through the door. Ron was an interesting person. He seemed to be very confident of himself and obviously had no problem with talking to other people. Harry also noticed that it seemed particular hard for him to apologize. He didn't seem as bad as Ginny made him seem. As Harry walked off, he noted to himself that it might be useful to have Ron as a friend.

As he walked by a compartment, he saw Ginny sitting in it with a dark skinned boy. Harry put Tala onto the floor as he opened the door. "Mind if I sit here?"

Ginny looked up at him and said, "Go ahead."

The dark skinned boy's gaze lingered on Harry for a few seconds before saying, "So the rumors are true. The great Harry Potter has finally come to Hogwarts." The boy almost seemed to be mocking Harry.

Harry shrugged and said, "I'm no where near great, for your information."

The boy regarded Harry for a while before saying, "Blaise Zabini."

Harry took the boy's hand and immediately felt a strange feeling go through him. He hastily pulled his hand away and picked up Tala, who was rolling around on the floor.

"Nice cat," commented Blaise as Tala fixed her green gaze on him. Blaise stared right back at the cat.

"Thanks," replied Harry. "I got her a week ago." Blaise nodded and went back to his book. Harry looked at the boy and frowned. There was something definitely odd about him. It didn't matter that Harry had just met the boy. Even Tala hissed at him. That was a sign if any.

Harry looked to the window only to see Ginny looking at him with a strange look on her face. When she saw him look at her, her cheeks turned a little pink and she immediately turned away.

"Are you both the only ones in this compartment?" asked Harry.

"For now," replied Blaise not looking up from his book.

"Draco and Pansy have gone to the prefects compartment," said Ginny looking through the window.

Harry thought to himself before asking, "Are there only two prefects in each house?"

Ginny nodded and continued to gaze out the window. Harry looked at Blaise who was showing no signs of wanting to make conversation and placed Tala back on his shoulders. Without a word, he left the compartment and began walking down the train.

As he left the compartment, Ginny looked away from the window. Her eyes lingered on him as he disappeared from her view. Looking away, she noticed Blaise staring at her.

"What?"

Blaise cocked his head at her and replied, "You might want to be careful, red."

"About what?" asked Ginny. His eyes moved in the direction that Harry had gone. "Potter? I hardly think I have anything to worry about."

Blaise fixed his gaze on her and said, "I'm just saying. I wouldn't get too close if I were you."

"And I would be quiet if I were you," snapped Ginny, her face turning pink.

Blaise smirked coldly at her and said, "Don't say I didn't warn you." He immediately went back to reading his book as though nothing had happened.

Harry, after leaving the compartment stopped in front of one of the windows and looked out at the lush green landscape. It was disappearing quickly only to be replaced by new landscape that was unfamiliar to Harry. Was this how his life was going to be? His old memories replaced by new ones? Would he forget everything that he had been through before magic?

It scared him though he would never admit it. He was still different from everyone here. He was the "Boy Who Lived" as everyone called him. Harry didn't want to be different. It just happened and he never asked for it. There was no point in thinking about it now though. What was done was done. He was opening up a new chapter in his life one that would be a part of him forever.


End file.
